


Teachers make all the difference (re-write)

by Artislife18



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Tony Stark, Bottom Tony Stark, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Panic Attacks, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Team, Sick Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, abused Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24017917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artislife18/pseuds/Artislife18
Summary: Steve has a second chance in life and he doesn’t intend to waste it. He takes up teaching, but what happens when suddenly there is a new kid in his class that Steve has not been able to get his mind off of?OrSteve is a history teacher at the local school who seems to have taken interest in the new kid.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 20
Kudos: 127





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone who left the encouraging comments regarding the re write! 
> 
> I am so excited for this!

A new year, a new student. 

  
Steve was going to miss his short summer break. I mean don’t get him wrong ,he loved his job, but anyone would need a break from being around hormonal teenagers all year. This year’s break was perfect, normally there was always a long mission that would ruin his downtime . But finally, for once, thank Thor! fury hadn’t needed him on anything other than his occasional shield training programmes and such and no aliens had decidedly crashed his summer break.

He prides himself in being a history teacher at the local school , he did after all have first hand experience in said history. 

Three years ,it has been since Steve started this gig as a history teacher . Actually it wasn’t a gig, it was something he really wanted to do. Shield had graciously set him up with the school, he even received a salary. It was as official as it could be, albeit the missions and impromptu world saving that occasionally kept him from school. Only a few people at school were aware of Steve’s hero status. As far as the world was concerned, captain America went in the ice eleven years ago and was found four years back and hasn’t cared to surface in the public eye. While everyone knew captain America, nobody knew ‘Steve Rogers’ , the high school history teacher and he wanted to keep it that way. 

He terribly missed his friends, Bucky especially. It took Steve an entire year to come to terms with the time jump and it had taken natasha’s wise words of ‘this is your second chance, don’t waste it’ for him to get out of his lovely apartment, courtesy of shield, and learn the new ways of life. The technology had been baffling at first, but after being shown around shield’s tech which was far more complicated than the current tech available to the common world he had picked it up relatively fast. He could even use the smartphone device to it’s maximum capacity within few months. Of course he had been mocked relentlessly by Clint that it had taken him months to do so. 

His motorcycle was his best friend , though only after Natasha and Clint. School was only a good five miles away from his apartment . His apartment was a cozy place, nothing extravagant as he had wanted to seek some comfort from his roots of simpler times. To remind him of his real home. 

The summer came to a quick stop as he pulled into the parking lot of the school , his motorcycle sporting a few new upgrades. He was in a way glad to be back at school, a few things he had honestly missed and one of those things was currently walking towards him as he waited at the front office for the lovely lady to hand over his schedule for the year. 

“Bruce! Nice to see you , how was your summer?” Bruce, smiled at him genuine and happy as he extended a hand for Steve to shake. Steve loved Bruce,the man was quiet and often kept to himself but what Steve liked the most about him was that he had a genius mind but that didn’t keep him from staying humble always. Bruce was the school’s favourite physics teacher and he even occasionally taught biology because he had had experience in the medical field before he started teaching. 

“It has been busy, I finally applied for the grant on my radiation study and currently waiting for it to go through” he said fixing his glasses and asking for his own schedule. 

“That’s great to hear, I am happy for you. Does that mean I won’t be seeing you at school anymore?” Steve couldn’t deny that even if he was happy for Bruce, the thought of his only good friend here at school might be leaving was saddening.

“Absolutely not, I won’t be giving up on teaching any time soon. The basics matter, you know?” Another reason to love Bruce. Steve beamed at the women who handed them both their schedules , they parted ways at the end of the hallway promising to catch up with the other at lunch. 

His classroom was exactly the way he had left it, save for a few new supplies of pens ,markers and papers that were left for him on his messy desk. He sighed looking at the clock at the far end of the room, that told him that he had ten minutes to get his things in order before the bell would ring and his students would be arriving. 

He quickly went through organising his things and settled down, picking up his schedule and the list of students that would be in his class this year. He recognised all of them, except one that had been added at the last. Anthony Edward stark. 

The bell rang shrill and loud and Steve flinched just a touch, it always took a while to get used to at the beginning. In less than two minutes his classroom was filled with noisy banter. 

“And so history repeats itself as you find yourself back in my class” he heard a few chuckles and multiple groans and he smiled back pleased at the cheeky introduction he had managed to pull off.

Steve took a moment to catalogue the faces, his eyes stopping at one. His breath faltered just a tiny bit when the brown eyes looked up to meet his. The new kid. 

“I see we have a new student this year, care to give us an introduction? A little history into your life if you please” Anthony, Steve remembered ,looked flustered if only for a fleeting moment before he composed himself and stood ,a bright smile forming on his face and Steve immediately knew he was in trouble with this one. 

Sharply dressed, hair clean and set , the brunette squared his shoulders and took a breath “my name’s Tony, I am a transfer student. History is boring, “ said the brunette ,eyes meeting Steve’s amused one’s daring him to say something “ I am a futurist myself, so I’ll be happy to share my future with you guys instead” Steve bit his lip to keep from smirking at the pompous kid while he gave a slight pause for dramatic effect “it’s gonna be awesome” 

Okay, so Tony’s joke had gotten a better response than Steve’s as the class laughed as he sat down again , but the laughter had only started after the students realised that Steve hadn’t taken offence and was only amused. 

“Well, Mr stark I am glad you told us that, or we wouldn’t have ever known. Up until now we all were under the impression that history was the most creative of them all.” The class snickered, he knew the kids loved him and it was mostly because of his carefree attitude and attempted friendly banter. But he was also very keenly and uncomfortably aware of the pining girls he learned masterfully to avoid after the first few months.

Tony rolled his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips as steve began the class. Twenty minutes in and Steve’s eyes landed on the brunette again, only to find him looking completely bored and out of his mind. Steve did take offence this time but he didn’t want to call him out just yet. He was the new kid after all, after all steve dies know how difficult it can be when things around you are very different from how you were used to.

Steve managed to finish up his class without being too bothered by the unimpressed look he was receiving from Anthony after he gave them homework on the first day. The bell rang and before Steve could drop his book ,sit back down and lift his head, tony had left, leaving a frowning Steve in the wake. He had made a beeline for the door before any of kids had even packed up.

All in all, Steve’s first day had been good. Before he knew it, in the next few days he was back in his school day routines. Grading papers, setting assignments and reading up for his next class. 

His classes were the same, kids would come he would spout great things of the past, they would chuckle at his lame jokes, yawn at the boring parts and groan when he gave them assignments and homework. Nothing had changed , well maybe except for the new kid , there was something about him and Steve couldn’t put a finger on it yet.

“How are your classes? Routines set?” Steve asked as he sat across Bruce , sipping coffee while Bruce hummed around his tea. 

“Same old same old. Although there is this new kid , Anthony stark. A real smart kid if I may say so” Steve frowned , it shouldn’t bother him but it did. So tony liked physics but didn’t like history. That’s okay, students were allowed to have favourite subjects and clearly history wasn’t his. “He seems so uninterested in class but-“ Steve’s heart did a little flip, that was unexpected. “But I just graded one of his papers and there is stuff here that even I had to look up” he said pointing to the bundle of papers on the table Bruce had brought with him. 

One, steve was smiling unbeknownst to himself because tony being bored in his class was not only a history thing and two, there was a questionable sense of pride bubbling in Steve’s chest that he just couldn’t fathom. Was he proud that tony was doing well in Bruce’s class? 

The dreaded bell interrupted their conversation, too bad because Steve really wanted to hear more about this kid. Why? he wasn’t exactly sure but as he made his way towards his classroom , Steve found himself with an armful of said brunette as he crashed into him in his apparent hurry and the books in his arms went tumbling to the floor. 

Steve’s reflex didn’t waste even a second before wrapping an arm around tony to keep him from following his books in a rapid descent towards the floor. But the second his arm made contact with tony, He was met with a flinch. It was only a slight one and Steve wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t had his arms around the boy. He let go immediately, hands hovering around Tony’s elbow waiting for him to stabilise. 

“Shit” 

“Language” Steve chastised as tony bent down picking up his books and Steve picked up one that had fallen by his feet. It was a big one, heavy and Steve pursed his lips as he read the title ‘mechanics in engineering’ he handed the book over silently wondering why he was reading a book that was college level. 

Tony grabbed the book quickly, muttered a ‘sorry’ , his lower lip subjected to abuse from his teeth and quickly made his way around Steve , heading off to wherever he was going to. 

Steve made his way to his class, amusement and a hint of worry making an itch at the back of his mind , to pull out the papers Tony’s class had submitted this morning. He rifled through them quickly finding Tony’s paper to go through it.

Bruce was absolutely right, tony was smart and it showed in his work. The paper was well worded and the arguments were so well written that Steve read it twice just to confirm. 

A sigh, something akin to relief left his lips as he realised that tony was not just uninterested in his class but it was a general thing but also that he was indeed a really smart kid. 

Over the next few days Steve had only two things that kept kept spiralling back to his mind even though he had tried very to distract himself. One, why was Steve so amused by this fifteen year old and two, why had tony flinched. Of the two , Steve decided the more worrisome one was his fascination with tony , that sudden need to obliterate the cause for the flinch. Something had obviously frightened him that day and Steve didn’t like the idea of it. This lead to the first thought again, why was Steve so bothered by this? The cycle went on and on relentlessly in his head. He gave in two days later when he decided that it was okay to keep a subtle eye on the kid, nothing creepy ,just doing his job of making sure his students were okay. Or that’s what he told himself. 

He learnt a few things quickly, tony was a regular kid. He hated school just like all teenagers did. He was very smart, he was the subject of buzz amongst the teachers these days. He was always surrounded by kids, had a happy , egotistical and pompous attitude. Didn’t like being reprimanded for the trouble he caused with his smart mouth. He held on to that big book of mechanical engineering like a lifeline. 

So when Steve found said genius , sitting all alone on a bench in the hallway outside the gym three weeks later , he stopped amused and concerned at the same time because one, tony was sitting alone, he was never alone. And two, he was hunched over, an arm wrapped around his torso gingerly with a frown that signified nothing but irritation. Steve cleared his throat , and walked over to the apparently brooding teen. In the few steps that it took him to get to tony , the boy had straightened up, arms dropped to the sides and a smirk made its way onto his face. 

“Avoiding gym Mr.stark?” Tony scoffed prompting Steve to raise an eyebrow 

“Gym is avoiding me” it was Steve’s turn to frown 

“Care to elaborate?” 

“Balls don’t like me, they seem to have a personal vendetta against me” he shrugged and Steve was now definitely concerned as he remembered Tony’s posture earlier.

“And the best way to avoid it is by sitting in the hallway?” He asked as he subtly looked at the kid head to toe, trying to figure out where he was hurt other than his ribs which was obvious from his posture. 

Tony , flashed a smile , pulled out a slip from his pocket and waved it in front of Steve “it’s called a hall pass for a reason Mr. Rogers” Steve blinked, not because of the little retort but that this was the first time tony had addressed him by name and it did something to Steve. 

“That is a hall-pass to the nurse, not for lingering in the hallway is it now?” He was proud of that one when tony looked miffed . “Is there a reason you are avoiding the nurse as well?” 

“There’s nothing anyone can do about it” Steve frowned at him worried 

“What is this thing that no one can help with?” He asked him folding his arms around his chest giving him a stern look 

“One of the boys may or may not have landed on top of me” Steve cringed internally at the thought of someone falling on the already small framed brunette. Tony was small for his age, his cheeks still had that roundness to them but Steve found it adorable none the same. 

It was starting to get frustratingly hard to get straight forward answers from him , so Steve squared his shoulder, held a hand out and said “up you get, come on” 

Tony leaned away from Steve’s hand, shuffled to his feet awkwardly glaring at Steve “why?” Steve rolled his eyes at him but pulled his hand back from the defensive teen 

“Let’s go, to the nurse” he said pointing with his thumb behind him and tony immediately pursed his lips, stepped around Steve “I can go by myself, thanks” and he was off before Steve could even blink. 

Steve didn’t see tony for an entire two days after that encounter. 


	2. Resurfacing truths

“I am telling you nat” Steve stretched his arm as far as it would go to gain maximum moment to bring his shield down on the doombot. It screeched as the connections severed and fell to the ground like a puppet “this kid, I don’t understand him. Why lie, you know?” 

Natasha groaned as she caught sight of the fresh batch of booths came towards the pair. They quickly stood , taking each other’s backs taking the bots down one after another. 

“Steve, what is the fascination you have for this new kid, I don’t get it.” She said breathily as she pulled on Steve’s shoulder to get him to spin around so they can change sides. 

“It’s not a fascination” 

“You have mentioned him at least five times in the last two days” she deadpanned and she was right, Steve never really spoke about his school to these guys. 

“I don’t know, okay? He’s just...” Steve trailed off considering himself to be lucky that he had an excuse to not complete that answer as a doombot struck him particularly hard in the abdomen. 

“He is sixteen Steve” Natasha said gently, slowly like she wasn’t sure he had realised that yet. Gasping Steve fell to his knees as she took out the last one , the extended arm catching Steve’s face, on his right cheek drawing blood. 

She dropped the bot , leaning over to give him a hand and Steve took it gratefully. Hating himself for being distracted so easily. “It’s also dangerous Steve” 

He knew she didn’t just mean his distractions causing injuries, there was a tone to her voice he couldn’t place. He nodded nevertheless catching his breath. 

“Are we done? I ordered my pizza two hours ago” came clint's voice over the com. He had surprisingly stayed silent during his and Natasha’s conversation. 

“Yeah” he huffed “yeah, I think we are done. For now” 

Two hours later, found them all relaxing at the tower eating Clint's pizza, on the common floor. Clint and Natasha lived here and while steve was offered a place of his own at the tower he had refused it in favour of his apartment. He liked the independence but he also did spend a majority of his time at the tower with his teammates. 

Steve iced his laceration on his cheek with an ice pack, the swelling still obvious. It had been rather deep and Steve was starting to understand just how distracted he had been during today’s battle. He had to make sure that didn’t happen- 

“Steve get over it, you had a momentary lapse . Happens to everyone” Clint said breaking his train of thought handing over some fries that Steve found too greasy for his liking. 

He still needed to make sure it didn’t happen again, his entire team will be at risk. 

Steve decided that maybe he needed a change in scenario and what better way to do so by taking the kids to the museum of natural history. The students were not that young but it would be nice to see how they appreciate the information at this age. 

“Mr Rogers, I understand that you want to give them something different, but these are teenagers we are talking about. It would be unnecessary trouble” Steve nodded his lips pursed as he calmly tried to explain to the principal why this was not so bad an idea

“Sir, with all due respect, this is a museum of natural history and they are going to be very bored so there is not much trouble they can get into” he countered 

“Exactly my point here, they get into trouble when they are bored” Steve sighed leaning back 

“I have some friends willing to help me monitor them, I am sure we will be able to handle it if you can okay this for me” the principal did not look too happy with Steve today ,normally he was always very pro anything with Steve because he knows Steve’s secret and nobody denied captain America anything. 

He reluctantly nodded “ I will need signed consent forms from the parents” he said waving Steve off with a smile and shake of his head. 

Steve was in a somewhat happy mood as he made his way over to his class that morning, Tony’s class to be precise and the students were all already in their places. Tony was also there, and Steve heaved a sigh of relief he didn’t know was there when he realised that tony was okay. After tony didn’t show up for two days he was worried that injury he was so reluctantly nursing might have been worse than projected. 

And surprisingly enough , Tony was the last to leave class today . He casually walked towards Steve’s table once everyone had left, his bag strapped over one shoulder as he pulled out a yellow slip handing it over to Steve who took it from him curiously. 

“Looks like you are the one who needs the pass to the nurse huh Mr Rogers?” He said smugly as he walked away. 

It took a moment for Steve to realise that tony was talking about the laceration on his cheek which was mostly healed , a small thin line of red remained. 

He smirked, putting away the hall pass and continued stacking his papers when something dawned on him. If tony still had the hall pass with him, that meant he hadn’t actually gone to nurse. He had lied to Steve. 

The next morning, Steve sat at the front of the bus as the students settled in their seats as he messaged Natasha that they were leaving soon and was startled when someone sat down next to him. 

“You know Mr Rogers, It would be really helpful if you shared with the class as to how you gained super healing abilities” Steve almost dropped his phone, eyes going slightly wide as he gawked at tony who was looking at him expectantly. 

“Excuse me?” He asked playing dumb and tony gave an exasperated sigh as he reached a hand up and traced a line on his cheek with a finger. Steve had to force himself to stay still and not catch the teens fingers in his own or lean into the touch. 

“The cut you had yesterday, it’s not there anymore” he said , Steve was met with a look of pure curiosity and all Steve wanted was to tell him the truth. He shook his head slightly while tony lowered his hand down again

“Unlike some of us, I actually went to see a doctor” tony scoffed raising an eyebrow at him 

“A doctor cannot heal a cut in a day either” he was not wrong and Steve felt the small sheen of sweat that was starting to form across his forehead in panic. 

“I have a really good metabolism I guess” he said with as much confidence he could muster and tony just stared at him through narrow eyes for two whole seconds before muttering a “huh” and looking away. 

Tony sat next to him throughout the ride and Steve was just glad he was not asking him any more questions as they rode the bus in silence together. 

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the museum and Steve quickly jumped off the bus greeting nat and Clint who were waiting for him. 

“Looks like the fossil has finally arrived home” Steve glared at her while she only smirked and high fived Clint. 

“Okay , gather around!” Steve yelled turning back towards the students de boarding   
“These are my friends, Clint and Natasha . They are here to make sure you guys don’t get into trouble” there was a round of groans that went around and clint stepped up “we are actually here, to make sure this guy doesn’t kill your fun” the cheers that went around made Steve roll eyes as they all made their way into the museum. 

“Is that him?” Natasha asked pointing to tony subtly with his chin as they both stood casually leaning against a wall as the students all crowded around the exhibits. Steve wasn’t surprised but he still had to ask 

“How did you know?” She scoffed lightly “he has been throwing looks your way ever since we arrived here.” Steve tried not to let that bother him as he noticed tony and his two friends, pepper and Rhodes who seemed to have become somewhat inseparable since tony joined this school. 

“He’s cute, your boy toy” she commented, testing the waters to see how he would react to that comment. 

“Don’t” Steve said through gritted teeth not looking at her 

“Don’t call him cute or call him your boy?” Steve pinned her with a look , a warning. 

She rolled her eyes at him, turning to see Clint who was approaching them. He was thoroughly enjoying himself , Clint had a playful personality and he fit right in with the kids, Steve was almost jealous at how effortlessly he had been accepted among the teens. 

“He is quiet the smart alec, I’ll give you that” he said leaning against a pillar beside them and Steve silently agreed, refusing to think about how Clint knew what the two of them were talking about. 

“Mr.Rogers!” He turned towards the eager voice, to see pepper waving at him while Tony kept a hold on her elbow , seemingly pulling her towards him. 

“Can we go to the astrophysics section?” Before Steve could process the request and tell them no and to stay with the group, pepper burst into a litany of explanation “it’s just one floor above us, we will stay there until you guys come up, we promise! We have already seen this before and the..” Steve tuned her out as his eyes landed on tony, his soft looking lips were forming a subtle pout, which Steve realised a little too late that it was aimed at him. His head was nodding, giving tony permission to do anything he wanted even before his brain had processed it. He frowned as he watched pepper drag tony after her towards the elevator as she yelled out a thank you. 

Steve watched in a trance as the elevator closed with the two of them inside and was snapped out of it when Clint clapped him on the back and whispered in his ear as they both stared at elevator “you know what’s going to happen once they hit the floor above right?” 

And almost as if Steve wasn’t thinking for himself he asked “what?” And Clint smirked at him raising an eyebrow before saying “they are horny teenagers, Steve come on man , keep up!” 

Steve groaned when he let that sink in, berating himself for being distracted by tony. It had been so obvious and yet when tony had looked at him with those... Steve shook his head to clear it before his thoughts ventured into something inappropriate. 

But really, Clint was right. They were teenagers , he was one one not too long ago and he knew exactly what he was like at that age. That thought definitely didn’t help as he sulked for the rest of the time. 

“Steve don’t listen to him-“ Natasha started but Steve cut her off shaking his head 

“He’s right, besides it’s none of my business.” 

He ended up sighing every few minutes, his anticipation building up as he waited for the kids to move on to the next exhibit, Suddenly wondering if they were all in on it and decided to trick him by spending more time than necessary on the same floor. He berated himself for even going that far in thinking and quickly joined the students to keep himself distracted if not engaged. 

After another twenty minutes of pointlessly idling around his students , they finally decided that they were ready to move onto the next floor and Steve almost sighed in relief and was met with a knowing smile from Natasha. He ignored her, about to walk past her when the elevator opened and a frazzled looking pepper stepped out, her eyes scanning the floor rapidly and relaxed only when it landed on Steve’s own. She made her way quickly to him , ignoring her friends around her who tried to get her attention and stopped so close to Steve, no sense of personal boundary when he realised that she wanted to tell him something that was not meant to be heard by the others. He frowned and leaned down so she didn’t have to crane her neck up and whisper 

“Can you come with me, something is wrong with tony” the urgency in her voice was the first thing that caught his attention and he was acutely aware of the stares he was getting from the others as pepper tugged on his arm to pull him with her, except Steve was an enhanced super soldier currently frozen in place at horror of possibilities, he didn’t even budge at the strength she was using now frowning at him until Natasha shoved him gently, bringing him back to the present “Steve, go with her” she said quietly from behind him and he released the lock in his knees , allowing pepper to pull him along towards the elevator. 

He found his words just as the elevator closed and he turned towards her “ what happened?” 

She hesitated , if only for a second and quickly explained “we were kissing in the men’s room and then tony suddenly pushed me away and said he couldn’t breathe, I tried to help him but he won’t let me touch him and I didn’t know what to do he-“ Steve had to force his mind into focus as he quickly tried to asses the situation and it was not helping that the word kissing was fixated at the forefront of his mind. 

He took a deep breath, shook his head to clear his mind “okay pepper you did a good thing by telling me” he said trying to calm her down as he followed her quick steps to the men’s room. His heart dropped ,however, when his eyes fell on the brunette. 

Tony was on his knees, his hands clawing at his shirt collar. His hair was matted to his forehead, Steve could see the sweat glistening there as he gasped for breath unaware of their presence. Steve had a very good idea as to what was happening but he had to make sure first. 

He walked over in quick strides, avoided touching him and holding out a hand to stop pepper from doing so. He crouched down to Tony’s eye level , he had his eyes screwed shut. 

“Tony? Hey look at me” Steve said and that’s all it took for tony to snap his eyes open , eyes wide with fear as his fingers grasped at his shirt uselessly. 

“Do you need a hospital?” He asked and was met with a frantic shake of his head and Steve let his hands hover in front of the now swaying teen. “Do you have any allergies that could have set this off?” His was getting calmer as it become more obvious that this was something he could deal with and that tony was not in any immediate danger. 

He turned to pepper, who was now frantically shuffling around waiting to help “I need you to go let Natasha know that he is going to be fine and ask her to bring us a water bottle in a few minutes. Can you do that?” She nodded immediately but refused to move , her eyes trained on tony “he will be fine , I am going to help him. But I need you to do this for me okay?” She reluctantly left after telling tony that she will be back. 

As soon as she left, Steve trained his eyes back onto the struggling teen. Reaching his hand out again , he waved it in front of Tony’s eyes to get his attention “tony, you are having a panic attack , but you are going to be fine” He said and when tony shook his head fiercely and looked like he was going to pass out Steve reached a hand towards him 

“Can I touch you?” Tony nodded jerkily and Steve quickly reached out to unbutton Tony’s top few shirt buttons and pried his fingers away holding them to his own chest. He took an exaggerated breath prompting tony to do the same 

“There is a lot of air in the room, all you have to do is follow my breathing okay?” Steve coached him as tony slowly started listing forward , he used his other arm to stabilising him , holding him upright. 

“There you go sweetheart, you can do this. Come on , nice deep breaths for me” it took a while, but eventually Tony’s breathing turned into something less strained and not just wheezing. Steve let go of his hands and prompted tony to sit up straighter. But when he didn’t Steve reached out again 

“Can I help you sit-up against the wall, it will help you breathe better.” He added ,tony nodded , still focused on catching his breath and when Steve wrapped an arm around his midsection to pull him up right and against the wall, tony whimpered trying to scramble away from his hold. 

Steve let go as soon as he was against the wall, frowning at him , the image of tony sitting outside the gym protecting his ribs making a reappearance in his head. He couldn’t help but wonder if tony was hurt more severely than he let on. 

He sat down beside him, making sure to give him space and waited in silence for a few minutes to give him some time to collect himself. He wanted nothing but to hold him close and tell him that whatever had caused this panic attack would be alright. But Steve didn’t know what had actually caused it and he didn’t know if this was a one time thing. He didn’t know anything actually, so he opted to stay quiet at least until tony was tracking again. 

He was also concerned about the injury now, but tony had been walking around normally and had never shown an outward sign of discomfort. He was pulled from his chain of thought when the door was pushed open and Natasha poked her head in , waiting for an indication from Steve that it was okay for her to come in. 

He also saw tony startle,his body jerking, from his peripheral vision but quickly composed himself and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘just Natasha’ 

She made her way inside, holding up the water bottle with a small smile which tony took without much prompting and drank a few sips with shaky hands. Natasha shared a look with Steve and he knew exactly what she was trying to say. 

But Steve wasn’t sure it was his place to ask anything, but the concern was getting the better of him as he watched Natasha pull the door close behind her leaving the two of them alone again. 

“So, astrophysics is now code for making out huh?” He asked once tony seemed to have relaxed, but only to make his shoulders tense again. 

“It depends” he said , clearing his throat and then continued “on what your definition of making out entails” Steve pursed his lips holding in a smile . If he could make snide retorts then he would be fine. 

“What happened tony?” He asked finally

“I don’t know” the reply came quick and short but laced with exhaustion that no doubt came with the panic attack, with no explanation that left Steve frowning

“Has this happened before?” Curiosity was taking over and Steve needed to reign it in because he knows how defensive tony gets but when he was met with silence he knew it was already a lost cause. 

But he asked anyway “do you know what triggers it?” Tony’s silence was answer enough and it was worrisome. 

He changed tactics , “how is that injury?” He asked knowing tony couldn’t deny it or brush it off as nothing after that reaction. 

“My metabolism is apparently not as good as yours” he muttered and Steve cracked a small smile , at least he was talking again. The color was slowly returning back to his cheeks, his eyes tracking better and he sat up straighter against the wall. 

“Maybe if you had gone to the nurse-“ tony groaned , dropping his head in his hands. 

“It’s fine, there is nothing she can do for it” he clipped through gritted teeth. Steve would think this kid would be more great full to Steve , after all steve was sitting on the bathroom floor with him to help him. 

He sighed , letting the frustration of not getting any straight answers wash over him and brushed his hands on his pants ready to get up “I will call your parents to come pick you u-“ Steve didn’t finish his sentence before he was startled at the sudden movement as tony sprung up from the wall so quickly that Steve actually sat back down in astonishment. 

“Don’t call anyone, I am fine” the words left his mouth in a rushed manner and he turned away from Steve before he added a “please” 

Steve sat still for a good two seconds, comprehending before taking a good look at him and decided “okay” Tony’s eyes snapped up to meet his , it seemed as though he had not expected Steve to agree. 

“On one condition, I need to know how bad that injury is” Steve was sure it was worse than he was letting on. He had felt tony push with all his might to get Steve’s hands off his midsection and it had been four days since it had happened. If it was still hurting , then it had to be bad. 

Tony groaned again and shook his head holding a hand out, letting Steve know that he didn’t want him in his personal space. 

“Either you show me, or I am going to call your parents. You could be seriously-“ tony huffed out a laugh turning to face him 

“That is harassment and good luck talking to my parents since they are dead!” There was brief second where after he said it where tony looked smug at Steve’s shocked and guilty expression before he turned and left the restroom slamming the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

After that, Steve spent the rest of the day finding himself constantly looking over at tony while tony did the exact opposite.He kept telling himself that he was only looking out for a student after an episode of panic attack.

Natasha had told him he had done nothing wrong and to just let him be. But Steve was drowning in guilt , he knew most of his students immediate family or the necessary family history but tony was the new kid and he hadn’t had a chance to meet with his guardian yet on any school occasions.

He had almost expected tony to not show up at all the next day in class especially after the constant cold shoulder he had received from him during the rest of their time at the museum. He was relieved however when he found tony in his usual spot at the back of the class between his two friends.

What he didn’t expect though was to find that tony stayed seated even after he had dismissed the class and everyone else had filtered out. Steve didn’t know what to say, every conversation he had tried to have with this kid ended with tony only getting more angry with him. So he opted to stay quiet as he graded the papers the students had just submitted.

After five minutes of awkward silence, tony cleared his throat and sat up straighter while Steve lazily picked up another paper as he looked up at him “what can I help you with , Mr stark?” He asked politely allowing tony to carry forward this conversation.

But tony only looked at him, averted his eyes as soon as it met Steve’s and stayed silent. Steve sighed as he rounded some grammatical mistake on the paper in front of him.

“I am sorry about your parents, I didn’t know”. He said softly not looking at tony.

“You called me sweetheart” Steve’s hand froze over the paper, the red ink creating an ugly mark on the neatly written words. Until this moment, Steve hadn’t even realised he had said it but now the memory of it was suddenly startlingly clear in his head.

“Pepper says I have to apologise for the way I behaved with you yesterday” and yet as Steve waited for one, it never came.

He figured this was the best apology he was going to get and took it “I was just doing my job” Tony’s face fell, he wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t looking at him.

“Tony” the teen looked up at him expectantly as Steve continued “ you can always come to me, if you need to talk about what happened”

He was expecting to be cut off even before he finished that sentence but this time tony only nodded and opened his mouth sighing softly “ I will be seventeen next month”

Steve cocked his head to the side, unsure where this was going as he waited patiently for him to explain “I liked it when you called me sweetheart” he mumbled, this was the softest tone he had heard tony speak in so far and it tugged at Steve’s heart.

“You were kissing pepper yesterday” Words that were meant to stay in his mind left his mouth unfiltered and Steve almost smacked his forehead. What he should have said instead should have been something along the lines of ‘ I am your teacher, you are only sixteen, besides that didn’t mean anything and I was only trying to help‘

“I ..didn’t..we” he stuttered and Steve took pity and waved him off

“Pepper is a nice girl, she is good for you” he said giving him the warmest smile he could muster.

Tony looked like he had been slapped , his eyes darkened and he shrunk a little lower in his seat. Steve sighed , he really thought he had done a decent job of letting him down easy.

“Tony..” he wasn’t sure what to say. Steve was in shock though, he hadn’t expected it at all. Tony seemed to have hated his guts since he found him sitting outside the gym ,always picking arguments.

“It’s okay” he said so softly Steve almost missed it. Steve’s head was reeling, he had never seen tony show any kind of vulnerability and this was all too sudden.

“Don’t you have class?” He asked tapping his watch and tony only shrugged. Steve had wanted to be done with this conversation but tony didn’t seem to want the same.

“I am not in the mood for gym” he muttered ,staring at the chalkboard behind Steve’s head.

“that’s not how school works though” Tony pursed his lips at Steve , and pulled out a neatly folded slip

“I have a note from the nurse , excusing me from gym”

Well, at least he went to the nurse. If not anything ,Steve knew he was being looked after by someone “see? there was an upside to going to the nurse after all” Steve commented , folding his hands over his desk.

“Pepper has excellent penmanship” he said instead and Steve blinked twice before it registered. He got up from his chair, moving around his desk to walk over to tony. It took him a good few seconds to carefully formulate what he was going to say next, because he knew if he said the wrong thing then tony would get defensive.

“As a teacher I am obligated to report any incidents involving students to their guardian” he said watching for any signs that’s tony was throwing up his walls again but tony only sighed again, twirling the note in his fingers.

“I don’t want you to” he said staring intently at the piece of paper in his hand.

“Give me one good reason why and I don’t want to hear about there being nothing anyone can do for it” he said glaring at the kid, his tone had turned authoritative and it made tony stiffen in his seat.

“Because it didn’t happen in the gym” Steve was running out of patience, tony never said anything more than short clipped statements which never explained themselves. It only made Steve want to yell at him to spit it out already.

So far all he knew was that he was definitely injured, it didn’t happen at the gym and tony not wanting to tell his guardian about it only meant he was in some kind of trouble.

“Tony” he said waiting for him to look up but when he decidedly ignored him Steve took a deep breath before taking a step closer and leaning on the desk behind him

“Look at me when I am talking to you Mr. Stark” Tony’s eyes snapped up and Steve almost felt bad at using that tone with him.

“I am going to give you three options here” tony didn’t blink , he frankly looked a little afraid.

“One, you let me call your guardian” Tony’s eyes went wide and before he could shake his head Steve continued “two, I can have the school counsellor talk to you about what is going on” he held up his finger when tony opened his mouth to argue “or three, you let me asses this injury of yours, and then we can talk about what is going to happen next”

Tony’s mouth closed shut, it seemed he was honestly considering his options and Steve waited , still glaring at the teen.

Tony shifted uncomfortably in his seat before looking up “I’ll show you, but please don’t call anyone”

The more tony denied wanting people to know about, the more concerned Steve was getting about this whole situation. But he sighed in relief that tony had not argued further.

Steve shut the door close to his class, walking back to him as tony slowly and very reluctantly undid the buttons on his shirt.

Steve’s jaw dropped the moment tony let the shirt fall to his sides. His entire left side was one huge bruise, it was a mess of blue and black with yellowing edges. Steve was angry, but he didn’t know who to direct the anger at, did someone do this to tony? Or did he do something to deserve it,it would explain why he didn’t want anyone to know , Steve didn’t know.

Tony took a half step back when Steve approached him, he was sure his ribs were at least bruised if not actually cracked.

“What happened?” He growled as tony finally let him press gentle fingers along his torso to check for broken bone. Tony slapped at his hands when he pressed a little too hard.

“It’s not broken” he said and Steve’s eyes snapped up to meet his , had tony gone to a doctor after all?

“And since when do you have a medical degree?” He received a spectacular glare from tony for that.

“You need to wrap this, this is worse than I thought tony” he said dropping his hand after he didn’t find anything shifting under his fingers and when tony only looked more reluctant he added “you don’t have to go to a hospital. Go to the school nurse , she will do it for you,do you want me to give you a hall pass?” He asked patting his pockets looking for a pen.

“I don’t want to go”

“Tony, not an option” Steve said and tony pouted at him

Steve blinked at him, tony was actually standing here , his shirt open and pouting at Steve. His lips looked soft and red and ...Steve snapped himself out of his own thought before it turned inappropriate. Steve was fucked.

“Why don’t you want to go?” He asked staring at the kid.

“She’s scary”

“Who is scary?” For a second Steve was sure tony was going to whine at all the questions Steve was asking ,but he seemed to realise it himself and stood up straighter

“The nurse” Steve barked out a laugh, as tony looked at him incredulously at his obviously inappropriate reaction.

“Are you serious? This was why you didn’t want to go to the nurse?” tony looked almost timid and shy now after having admitted it. It made Steve’s heart flutter at how adorable he looked at the moment.

“You do it” he said , chin up and daring Steve to laugh more. That definitely stopped his laughter as he suddenly thought of his hands on Tony’s skin.

“No tony, go to the nurse, you are a big boy. You can handle it” he said and tony frowned at him shaking his head. Steve groaned internally before relenting and Tony’s face lit up.

“I’ll get the wrap, stay here.”

“Kay” he said adorably like Steve’s heart was not already smitten.

“Thank you Mrs. Rishah” Steve smiled at her as she handed over the wrap without much fuss.

Steve was so confused , he didn’t know what had changed so suddenly that tony seemed to be trusting him completely. Okay well not completely, he had still not told Steve what had actually happened. But it was a start, his mind wasalso reeling from the fact that tony had confessed to him that he liked him and not just in a professor kind of way.

This was going to make things so much harder for Steve.

Turning the corner, Steve ran smack into Bruce , the papers he was carrying went flying around them.

“Sorry Bruce! Here , let me help” he said as Bruce gave him an amused look

“You okay?” Steve briefly considered coming clean and telling Bruce everything about Tony’s injury but he remembered how tony had pleaded with him to not tell anyone.

“Yeah, all good. Sorry I wasn’t watching where I was going, I’ll see you for lunch yeah?”

He kept it short not wanting to keep tony waiting , it was obvious Bruce knew something was up but Bruce respected others boundaries very well and never pried unless absolutely necessary. He really was glad Bruce was his friend.

Steve found tony sitting on his desk, the papers Steve had been grading were now on the floor in a haphazard pile. But Steve was distracted by the way tony sat , his feet barely touching the floor , swinging back and forth as he typed away on his phone hardly noticing Steve’s presence.

“My desk is not meant for you to be sitting on” he said after clearing his throat not wanting to startle him.Tony dropped his phone beside him, not even bothering to hide it from Steve even though it was not allowed during school hours.

“It gives you better access, see I am being good” he said waving an arm at himself and Steve just rolled his eyes as he carefully peeled the wrap open. Tony watched silently as Steve pulled it apart. It was clear that he was nervous about something but Steve didn’t comment on it.

“Arms up” he ordered and tony slowly complied, his face only a few inches from Steve’s own as Steve wrapped the bandage around his torso. He kept his eyes fixed on his own hands very acutely aware of Tony’s eyes burning a hole through his head.

“Do you want to share with me what happened?” He asked as he was finishing up and tony went rigid his arms coming down to drop by his sides.

“Nope”

“If you are in some kind of trouble you have to tell someone, it doesn’t have to be me. But please talk to someone” Steve said softly not wanting to push his luck anymore for the day.

“Do you really think pepper is good for me?” Steve groaned , taking a step back finally looking tony.

“What I think” Tony’s eyes followed him as he walked to the dustbin to throw away the plastic “is that fifteen year olds should be kissing other fifteen year olds” tony scoffed

“I am going to be seventeen” he said in an arguable tone and Steve held back a smirk, tony looked barely fifteen what with his boyish face and and baby skin, not that Steve had thought about that when he was feeling him for broken bones.

“Same holds good for almost seventeen year olds” Tony’s face fell for the second time that day and Steve’s hand reached up involuntarily to brush a thumb across the saddened cheeks , but he midway changed the motion to straighten the collar on Tony’s shirt. 

“What class do you have now?” He asked changing the topic as tony quickly buttoned up his shirt.

“Bio then physics” he said hopping off the desk swinging his bag over his shoulder, all traces of injury gone.

“Okay, go on” Steve said motioning to the door as he picked up his stack of papers that tony had put on the floor

“Mr. Rogers?”

“Yeah?” He asked looking up from his place at the desk

“Thank you” Tony was smiling sweetly at him and Steve’s fingers crushed the pen in his hand feeling the plastic painfully poke at his skin as he returned the smile that had his heart throbbing.


	4. Chapter 4

steve was feeling a little surreal, pinching himself every few minutes to remind him that he had indeed had his hands on the bare chested teen. He was also trying very hard to forget it, it didn’t make any sense in his head either.

He was eager to walk the few steps to close the distance between himself and Bruce who was waiting for him at a table. It was the lone table at the cafeteria away from all the noise, Steve wondered why he would pick this spot next to the trash can.

upon getting closer, Bruce looked almost nervous and at the same time somewhat troubled. His index finger was rhythmically tapping on the tray in front of him.

“hey, everything alright?” Steve asked as he sat down opposite to him after politely declining the seat offered from the chemistry teacher. She had been trying for a while to get Steve’s attention on her but he obviously wasn’t interested, that didn’t stop her from trying though.

Bruce ran his palm across his face, putting his glasses back on and not so subtlety eyed Steve’s homemade sandwiches. So Steve gave him half of his and he took it gratefully , gently pushing away whatever was on his tray. steve had learned very quickly that he couldn’t always rely on the schools cafeteria food, so he occasionally bought his own.

“teenager problems” he sighed as Steve lifted an eyebrow in amusement. These were always fun to listen to as long as said teenager was not your problem. He put the sandwich down and straightened up looking at Steve.

“you know tony stark?” Steve felt an eye roll coming, as he wondered what sort of trouble he was creating again.

”of course, our little troublemaker” he said as he picked at the lettuce he had told Natasha he didn’t want. ‘eat your vegetables Steve’ she had said as they had made them this morning together. He liked his vegetables just fine, what he didn’t like was lettuce on toasted bread.

“Have I told you just how much of a genius that kid is?” Yes, multiple times from multiple faculties. Steve nodded and Bruce shook his head at him

”Steve I mean like genius intellect” okay, he knew tony was smart but it seemed like Bruce was really in awe of this kid suddenly.

“Okay, how is that troubling you?”

“Anthony Edward stark, ring any bells?” Steve froze for a solid three seconds, the lettuce and tomato falling right out of the bottom of his sandwich.

“Howard stark?” He forced himself to say as normally as possible. Oh it rung a lot of bells, bells that Steve did not want rung. When Steve had read that name on his student list that first day he had blatantly shut his mind from venturing into it. Because Howard’s boy, his best friend’s child had died along with his parents when he was only a baby. Steve had gone into the ice promptly a year after.

Bruce nodded, looking around to make sure no one was listening and then leaned in a little closer to Steve “a few months ago before tony joined this school, a bunch of suits showed up. Called themselves SHIELD.” Steve stopped chewing. “They told us that the boy was alive and was kept under witness protection because his parents did not die in an accident but was actually a murder.”

steve knew it hadn’t been an accident, but how did they keep this from him?

“why are you telling me this now?” He had to give Bruce credit, he would have had no idea if he hadn’t just been told that Bruce had been in contact with shield. But he clearly didn’t know that Steve was shield.

“I found tony having a panic attack at the back compound of the building while I was looking for some samples to show the kids under a microscope. His friends were there, the girl told me that this happened yesterday at the museum and you were able to calm him down a lot faster” Steve nodded as he felt his heart clench at the thought of tony on his knees in the mud.

“pepper said tony is opening up to you,I thought maybe it was time to tell you, so in case he does come to you , you will be able to help him in the right way”

“is he okay?” Steve asked scanning the cafeteria hoping to find the familiar face and when he didn’t Steve turned to Bruce with worry “he said he is fine, was exhausted. I sent him to math, I think they haven’t been let out yet”

“how many people know?” He asked suddenly wondering if he was the only one left in the dark.

“not many, the principal, a few guys on the board and me” He wasn’t sure if that helped him feel any better or just made it worse.

But he did understand that shield definitely has been looking into Bruce’s work on radiation, and that’s how they probably found him. They have been on a spree of finding anyone who can answer questions about the alien technology. But the way Bruce spoke of shield , he definitely didn’t know that yet.

He nodded , wanting to desperately ask about the injury but he knew Fury was the one who owed him all the answers , not Bruce.

Steve's anger with shield was only increasing with every minute he had to still sit in school until the bell rang signifying it was time to leave. So by the time he reached shield, it was safe to say he was fuming.

“how the hell did you think you could keep this from me?” Steve asked as he threw the file that Bruce had given him after lunch on tony. There was a picture of the teen, he was not more than twelve years old in it and it only made Steve more angry to think this child had to grow up without his parents.

two and half sets of eyes landed on him as he glared at them, Natasha and Clint surprisingly stayed quiet letting fury take this one. Fury on the other hand , waved a hand at him to sit down at the table where they were clearly going over some mission reports.

when Steve refused to move, fury rolled his eye “sit down Rogers, I don’t need you towering over me” Steve sat, trying to calm himself down enough to ask the right questions.

”you knew , you both knew.” He accused the two assassins who promptly pursed their lips “tell me Natasha , is this why you told me this would be dangerous?”

“you have to understand-“

“I am not here for this bullshit” he deadpanned and he could feel fury’s eyes burning a hole through him while did the same to Natasha. Fury may not be used to him cursing but nat and Clint were not surprised or impressed.

“What do you want to know?” Fury asked, resignation lacing his tone.

“I was at the funeral, three bodies were buried that day” Steve could feel the tremble that went through his fingers and he clenched them as tightly as possible to keep it from showing.

“Obadiah stane, was Howard’s business partner” Steve was Howard’s best friend but he didn’t understand much of his business and his company. He had heard of the name often when they were both having a day to catch up and Howard would often complain about how stane wasn’t getting the point. The point of what , Steve didn’t know.

“stane was the first into the crash site, he found tony, crying but very much alive. He took him away for fear of someone coming back to finish the job.”

“He thinks the person who did this was after stark industries and wanted to protect tony.” Natasha explained.

“Why was I kept in the dark?” It was meant to come out patient but his patience was wearing thin by the second, but it came out as a growl and fury actually leaned away in his seat. Steve knows he can be scary when he needs to, he didn’t intend to at the moment though. Natasha seemed to sense his distress as she placed a hand on his called fist, squeezing gently.

“When you were pulled out of the ice, we reached out to him, asking if he would be willing to transfer tony to your school. We argued that you could protect him but he refused to give in. He believes whoever knew Howard personally would know the first place to look for would be with you.”

“nobody knows I am alive” Steve argued

“stane thinks the people behind this know and see everything”

Clint said finally breaking his silence.

steve wanted to argue and say that he was more than capable of protecting the teen. But there was a a whole new sense to the word protect now that he had confirmed that tony was indeed Howard’s son. He was actually the one year old who had wrapped his fingers securely around Steve’s index finger trotting around Howard and Steve while they were at the mansion.

“so it would be better if there was no link between me and tony at all?” He asked needing a confirmation. He wanted nothing more than to be the person to protect him but Steve will do anything if it meant keeping him safe.

“Just because stane thinks that, it doesn’t mean we agree with him. Howard entrusted shield with his technology and he definitely would have entrusted his son to you.” Steve felt like an asshole now remembering how he had spent his afternoon thinking about his hands on the tony.

“it took a lot of convincing to let stane bring tony here, he finally agreed with one clause-“ Natasha started but Steve knew where this was going

“that I don’t know about him and tony doesn’t know about me” he felt strained as he said it. This afternoon he was ready to push the kid away for his own good but now all he wanted was tony.

“How can I lie to him?” He asked softly and Natasha sauuzed his hand again

”you were doing it all this while, now you just know that you are doing it to protect him” she was right but Steve felt awful. If tony had been any older when the accident had happened, he may have even remembered Steve.

He nodded, “he was injured a few days back, he refused to tell me how it happened. Only mentioned that it happened outside of school and that he didn’t want stane to know. Is he being targeted by someone? Do you have eyes on him?” Fury shook his head lightly

“we don’t know of any such incidents, we don’t have a continuous eye on him, stane says it’s unnecessary and tony is smart enough to figure it out immediately” that he was.

It took some effort , massive effort on Steve’s part to stop staring everytime tony was in the same room as him in school. He had the same crinkle to his eyes everytime he laughed from his heart that Howard had. In Howard it only showed when he was completely drunk of his ass and had no masks in place. But Steve had caught that genuine smile a couple of times.

Things got better , eventually. Steve kept busy in school and tony seemed to be over his infatuation with Steve. He was doing very well in school, Bruce loved him. Tony and Bruce had taken to each other quickly . Steve often found the teen trailing behind Bruce as they both waved their hands around arguing about science.

Tony also got into trouble a lot, he was often sent to detention and luckily Steve had never had the chance to supervise one with tony in it. He still seemed disinterested in history but Steve wasn’t taking extra steps to change that. He figured this might actually be good to keep their distance. He found tony often lurking around the corridors during gym but Steve hardly let on that he noticed. This could be some other teachers problem.

Three months , Steve had managed things and he was proud of how he was handling it. At least he could finally see reason now, as opposed to the first time he stormed into fury’s meeting with nat and Clint.

But if Steve knew any better, he would have known things never stay good. He should have expected it but somehow it had never crossed his mind that they still had some form of a relationship, as teacher and student. That realisation came when nat and Steve were posing as couples on the subway station as a lookout for a perp who had contacted shield and revealed that he was in position of some alien weapons. He had also refused to give them any information other than the fact that he was planning revenge against the world.

so when they standing hand in hand, casing the area based on some intel they had gathered he hadn’t expected to see tony and pepper taking the subway as well.

”Mr. Rogers!” Steve groaned internally turning towards the voice , giving a small wave as opposed to the excited one pepper was throwing at him. They made their way over to them , navigating the crowd like a pro,an unhappy, unimpressed tony being tugged along behind her.

“what are you doing here?” It’s normal to acknowledge teachers and students outside school, he just didn’t think he would when they were on a mission. Because his missions normally did not include the local subway.

He gave them both a genuine smile , “we are just headed to a friends place, weekend getaway” he said and he knew he had been immediately caught with the lie when tony frowned at him looking him up and down, but surprisingly he stayed quiet.

“oh, hi Natasha” pepper said, only just recognising her from the museum trip.

“hey , what are you kids up to?” She asked politely and before pepper could answer tony sighed and yanked his hands away from peppers hold.

“she wants to go to a boring art exhibit downtown, in a subway” he groaned while pepper just rolled her eyes at him . They were cute together, Steve thought.

“Yeah? That actually sounds nice. Have a good weekend.” Steve said, trying to end this conversation and get them moving along towards the fast approaching train.

pepper waved and head towards the platform while tony stayed rooted in place , his head cocked to the left slightly as he eyes Steve.

suddenly Natasha stiffened just a smidge and before he could trace her eyes to look at what she was seeing, she leaned in , kissed him softly and whispered in his ear “twelve o clock”

“I need to use the ladies room, I’ll be right back okay? It was nice seeing you tony” and she was off. Steve wanted to know what she had found but he understood that he needed to deal with tony first.

“so, you and nat are together now?” He asked bluntly once they were alone

“tony, come on , the doors are gonna close!” He heard pepper from inside the train and was about to wave tony off towards the closing doors but his com in his ears crackled as it was tuned into and he heard Lou he and clear “code black”

It all happened at once, the door on the trains closing, pepper screaming for tony and Tony’s frowning glare aimed at him. And of course the blast that shook the platform as Steve all but wrapped himself around the teen covering as much flesh as possible before he felt themselves being thrown at the wall behind them. The searing pain at the back of his head made things fuzzy after that.

”Steve! He,s bleeding! D-do something!” the voice was quivering and Steve could make out the fear in the undertones of it.

“I need you to let go of him tony, I am going to help him , come on. He’s going to to be fine”

“Steve can you here me? It’s tony” he wasn’t sure if he nodded or not but the person who asked him that was now shaking his shoulders.

“Honey , calm down, let the doctors do their work come on-“

That was the last thing he heard before he completely blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this any better from the first attempt at this story?


	5. Chapter 5

The next time he came to, it was much more pleasant. The air around him didn’t smell burnt and the fog around his mind was cleared. He pried his eyes open, thankful they had left the lights at dim or Steve’s enhanced retinas would have burned. 

“welcome back cap” he turned his head towards his feet where he saw Clint perched up on the bed by his feet. Steve’s captain America uniform on his lap. 

“hey,” he was handed a glass of water that he quickly gulped down, he could feel the serum working as it tugged on the skin and muscles across his chest. 

“Any fatalities?” He asked as he rubbed both his palms across his eyes hoping to clear away the haziness. 

“none, but 17 injured. We caught the guy, nat is interrogating him as we speak” Steve nodded looking around and recognised the wall colours immediately. They were at shield. He was lying on one of the rooms they used for an occasional rest. 

Steve’s breath hitched when something suddenly occurred to him, he could remember the pleading voice as his sight had faded to blackness “tony? He was ther-“ 

“calm down, he’s fine. He was concious when he was bought in. He is with medical right now” Steve’s shoulders sagged in relief 

”what about the girl?” He didn’t have to explain to Clint, 

“she is fine, an agent drove her home a while ago directly from the scene. The blast shook the train but no one was injured inside of it” 

“how long was I out?” He asked stretching and testing his joints as he reached for the uniform at the same time Clint got up. 

“about an hour” he nodded and Steve waved a hand at the door “I’ll be with nat on level 2, call me if you need anything else” he said as he left Steve to change out of his severely damaged and charred clothes. It took him a few minutes to scrub the soot off his body but the shower had really helped loosen the tense muscles. There was a long gash across his chest, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore so he let it be. 

Just as he stepped out of the room, he was interrupted by a frazzled looking agent “captain, do you have a moment?” She seemed nervous and Steve figured she must be new around here. The new ones were always nervous around him. 

“yeah, what can I help you with?” He asked giving her a polite smile which she didn’t return 

“there is a Mr.Stark in medical and the doctors told me to get you because he is refusing treatment and seems hysterical.” Steve’s heart was already hammering 

”is he okay? Agent Barton told me he was fine” he was terrified the kid had been hurt seriously 

“all I know is that he is asking for you and is refusing to let the med team help” she said, wiping her sweaty palms on her skirt. Steve wasted no time in giving thanks and walked around her to get to medical. It was two floor below them, taking the elevator he ran into Clint and nat “hey, slow down” nat said as he skidded to a stop inside the elevator. 

“yeah, I- tony is refusing medical treatment? You said he was fine” he said pointing to Clint and he received a defensive stance from him 

”I said what I meant, he was concious and talking while they arrived. I don’t know the extent of his injuries” Steve nodded once 

”the guy talked?” He asked them ,receiving negative head shakes from both. 

“Okay, I am going to make sure he is okay and I’ll meet you guys down here” he said exiting and took off in a jog . He skidded to a stop however when a familiar voice reached him. Tony was arguing with the medical staff 

“ Why is no one telling me where he is?” 

“Mr stark please sit down, we need to make sure -“ 

“no, don’t touch me! Is he dead? Just tell me if he’s dead” Tony’s voice was trembling and broken and Steve knew exactly what was happening with him. He unfroze , running through the door that divided them , his heart breaking at the scene .

Tony was standing near the bed, swaying actually ,as he waved his arms around frantically trying to keep the two doctors around him away. It seemed like they were trying to force an oxygen mask on him and Steve could see why. He was hyperventilating, and looked terrified as they finally got him to sit down.

Steve wasted no time in intervening and sinking to his knees in front of tony. 

“Tony, hey it’s me buddy, I am okay” he said and tony froze as his eyes landed on Steve’s form. It would have been comical if not for the situation, just as Steve reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, tony seemed to snap out of his trance , flinging himself at Steve, trembling arms hugging him as tightly as posssible. 

“I am okay tony, we are okay” he said slowly, returning the hug. 

”you with me buddy?” He asked after he didn’t get a response from the teen even after a few seconds and when he tried to push the teen back onto the bed, he was met with resistance. 

“I need you to breathe for me tony, come on just like the other day” that only made things worse, Tony started gasping for air as Steve eased him to sit on the bed, holding him at arms length, Tony’s fingers were wrapped tightly around Steve’s wrist as if he was hanging on for dear life. 

“Yo-“ tony started “blood, Steve there was so much blo- look on you!” 

“I am okay , I promise,breathe for me” he said trying to coach him into doing so. Tony was shaking now, Steve turned to the two doctors behind him “can you give us a few minutes, leave the oxygen mask and a bowl with water to wipe his face with” he requested and he was met with his demands without question. 

As soon as they were out the door, Steve gathered the boy in his arms , “I have you tony, you are okay. We are both okay” he said again and again using one hand to soothe the tremors wracking through his spine. Somehow he didn’t think about what he had just done, but tony didn’t seem to mind as he buried his face into Steve’s chest clinging on tighter. It suddenly hit him, that tony fit perfectly in his arms. 

“I need you to take some nice deep breaths for me buddy” tony didn’t seem to register what he was saying , So Steve gently tipped his head back to look at him and he could make out that he was clearly still zoning in and out of reality probably still processing what had happened. It hurt him to think tony had been left alone in this state the whole time he had been unconscious. 

“shall we try the oxygen mask?” He asked bringing it closer and tony frantically shook his head moving away from it. 

Steve was getting worried that he was going to pass out “sweetheart” Tony’s eyes snapped up as he melted against Steve “can I put this on you?” He didn’t move away this time and Steve took it as an affirmative and held the mask over his mouth and nose. 

Tony resisted, trying to turn his face away , “relax for me tony, it’s only there to help you.” It took a little bit of coaxing on Steve’s part but eventually tony settled against his chest, exhausted. His breathing slowed down drastically and Steve eased the mask off his face after a few silent minutes. 

“You with me?” He asked gently shaking his shoulders but all he received was a nod against his chest. 

steve reached for the cloth, wetting it in the warm water ,ran it over Tony’s face to clear off the soot and grime. It seemed to bring tony out of his shock as he took a few shuddering breaths and pushed away with a still trembling hand on Steve’s chest to look at him. 

“hey” Steve said smiling cautiously as he pushed Tony’s matted hair out of his eyes. 

tony didn’t say anything, instead he seemed to be looking for something as his eyes roamed all over Steve. Now Steve was worried that maybe he had a concussion and wasn’t processing Steve’s words. 

just as Steve was about to run his fingers through his hair to check his scalp for signs of injury tony leaned forward again , wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck in a crushing hug.

”hey ,hey you are okay tony” he said softly as he rubbed his back again. 

Tony sniffled against his neck “Did the doctors check you over?” He asked, Steve could feel him fisting the uniform on his back. It was the first thing he had said after Steve had pulled him onto his lap and it surprised him that Tony’s thoughts were on Steve’s health.

“Yeah they did, I am okay. But we need to make sure you are okay too, so can you let the doctors do their job?” Tony only pushed back again looking at him sadly 

“how are you okay, I saw you -you blood ..I steve you were bleeding a lot and Natasha ..she-“ he said ,hiccups breaking his words 

“I promise , I am fine. I am here and talking aren’t I?” He asked as he reached for the water with the straw someone had clearly already made him drink some. 

Tony nodded feverishly, mumbling to himself until Steve held the straw to his lips. He took a few sips before pushing it away and moved a hand to Steve’s chest, like he was feeling the material of the uniform and just as his hands skimmed over the laceration Steve winced and tony withdrew his hand immediately. 

“you shouldn’t be here” he said looking Steve in the eyes and Steve felt a pang of hurt at that 

“you want me to leave?” He asked as he carefully eased his hands away as if to get up but before Steve could move tony had placed both his hands on his chest, fingers trying to desperately grasp at the material of his uniform to keep him from moving. 

“No! Don’t leave me” he said rushed and panicked 

“okay,” Steve conceded and tony initially looked like he didn’t believe him but eventually relaxed his fingers and leaned forward against his chest again, his hands trapped between them. 

“I am going to call the doctors okay?” Tony sniffled lightly shaking his head “you are hurt tony, they need to make sure-“ 

“how are you okay? You were not okay” he mumbled to himself like he was trying to figure out something 

Steve’s pulse picked up as tony started putting things together. He gave him a light squeeze before reaching behind them to press the nurse call button. 

“Why are you dressed like that?” Steve ignored his question , and wiped Tony’s dirty blackened fingers from the soot. 

he jumped, startled as the door opened moving closer to Steve. When they reached for him, he shrugged off their hands “ no touching” he insisted leaving everyone to frown 

“they just want to make sure you are okay-“ Steve didn’t get to finish

”you are captain America” the room froze, the doctors , Steve and even tony . When Steve only nodded after what seemed like several minutes , the lady doctor ,Dr. Brandon his brain supplied to him helpfully, moved closer placing a gentle hand on Tony’s shoulder. 

“Hi tony, my name is Dr. Brandon. I just need to examine you real quick and then you and the captain can have a talk” and then she turned to Steve and gave him a calming smile assuring him that they would be fine . Steve really liked her, she was always kind , professional and most importantly very patient especially when the team came in after a battle and always refused medical. 

“okay” tony said not taking his eyes off of Steve . They got to work quickly, efficiently stripping him off his shirt but tony refused to let them touch his pants. 

“how?” Tony asked as they prodded at the bruises on his torso , Steve was distracted and didn’t catch the meaning of what he asked as his eyes lingered on the finger shaped bruises on either side of Tony’s torso where Steve had grabbed him before the blast. 

“hmm?” He asked as he watched tony wince when delicate fingers prodded his scalp leaving his hair askew and completely disheveled. It suited him , Steve decided. 

“You are supposed to be dead” Steve’s eyes snapped back to Tony’s, the expresssion he caught on Tony’s face was nothing short of wonder and disbelief. 

“I will answer all your questions once we make sure you are okay.” He said and thanked the gods that tony nodded accepting the deal. 

Turned out that tony did have a mild concussion and his left wrist was sprained and he had some characteristic bruises across his torso.   
Tony didn’t fight them further as they wrapped his wrist in crepe and applied salve over the minor burns littered over his skin , the whole time he was sat beside Steve refusing to take his eyes off the man. 

“We can give him a mild sedative” Dr.Brandon said, gently as if she was trying not to startle tony again which was when Steve realised that Tony’s eyes were drooping. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now” Steve whispered back , because even if tony was not listening to the other two in the room , he was definitely tracking every movement Steve made. 

she nodded tugging on Tony’s legs to straighten them , running her fingers over the pants to make sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere they couldn’t see. “We were told to release him in the care of one Obadiah stane after” 

Tony’s sudden movement startled all of them, Steve and Dr.Brandon moving closer immediately to hold him still. 

He pulled his legs away from her wandering hands like the touch burned him “I am not going with obie, I want to stay here with you”   
he said frowning, eyebrows drawn in tightly as he bit his lower lip. 

Steve shared a look with the other two before the guy mouthed to Steve “He will be here in four hours” and they left silently pulling the door closed behind them after promising tony to get something for the pain. 

“They left some scrubs for you, why don’t you change into them?” Steve said motioning to them.

”I am not going with obie Steve , I want to stay with you. Are you sure you are okay?” Steve frowned again, why didn’t he want to go with stane and he seemed slightly disoriented still, Steve wanted to get him to rest for a while before having any kind of sensible conversation with him. 

“he’s your guardian right?” tony nodded and Steve held perfectly still as tony scooted close to him again. 

“You were bleeding” he said eyeing Steve’s chest, and Steve sighed as he reached up to pull him closer again surprised at how he relaxed the moment Steve wrapped an arm around him.

“will you believe me if I showed you?” Tony nodded eyes wide and expectant. 

“I will go change into something more comfortable, why don’t you do the same and I’ll meet you here in a few minutes. Sounds fair?” He nodded after careful consideration. 

”is Natasha really your girlfriend?” Steve froze With his hand on the doorknob. He wasn’t sure what to say, he could just lie and say yes so tony wouldn’t get his hopes up again. But he had just been through so much , physically and emotionally ,Steve didn’t want to lie to him. 

“no, we were posing as couples to catch that guy who set off the bomb” tony didn’t look up when Steve turned when he was only met with silence. 

“I’ll be right back okay?” That he received a short nod for. 

steve was not ready for the feeling of missing tony wash over him as soon he let the door close behind him. It was silly, Steve thought shaking his head. But in all seriousness he was not letting that kid go, no matter the nature of their relationship once Steve got a look at the vulnerability he displayed in the past few minutes,he didn’t think he could just walk away. 

Tony always had walls up, always getting into trouble for arguing with teachers or everyone, he was defensive and displayed a don’t care attitude. But today , Steve had seen it crumble, and tony was nothing what he thought he would be when stripped off the mask.

“cap, how is he?” Clint asked as Steve made a quick stop at the interrogation room where they had the guy. Natasha and Clint were going over some files as Clint chewed on a sandwich noisily. 

“shaken up, he thought I was dead. How did no one bother to tell him” Steve said, it was not accusing he was just not sure what happened after he had lost conciousness. 

“yeah, he was having a hard time, but Dr.Brandon was there and we had things to over see.“ Steve nodded ,as he pointed to the papers 

“find anything?” They shook their heads in unison, Natasha finally looking up . She scanned him top to bottom before frowning at him. 

“he saw you in your uniform” she stated 

“I am not lying to him anymore. He knows” Steve said tersely “actually, he figured it out” he received unimpressed looks from the assassins. 

“have you eaten? you took a pretty bad hit” she asked 

“no, I promised tony I would be back in ten minutes” she nodded going back to reading 

“Can you both drop by? Familiar faces will help” 

“we will bring you both a little something to eat” Steve was grateful to these two, they all always looked after each other but always knew where to draw the line or what would tip one another off. 

it took him another five minutes to find some shirt and pants with shield logos brightly printed on them. He never liked the fit, but he wasn’t going to complain.   
Just as he made his way back to the Medbay he was stopped by none other than the man in charge “ I told you to stay away from him, what am I going to tell stane?” Steve rolled his eyes at him, barely caring. 

“you got tony out here, you knew this would happen.” Fury, the goddamned bastard had the guts to smirk at Steve. 

“I really hope you know what you are getting yourself into with that kid” he froze, fury knew. The bastard was pulling his leg. 

“I will manage just fine , thank you” Steve smiled wearily walking away shaking his head. Steve was not going to be able to manage anything, he knew that. He could handle stane , but tony? He didn’t think so. 

After months of avoiding the teen, Steve finally had what he wanted, tony knew the truth about him and Steve just wanted to get to know him without having to hide anything. 

tony was sitting cross legged on the bed, he looked pale and ashy. But the latter was because he still had considerable amount of ash and soot covering his skin. He had his chin resting on his palms, staring at the bland painting on the wall. His eyelids dropped every few seconds and Steve wanted to leave him be and let him get some sleep. 

“hey” he said softly instead , closing the door behind him again as tony jerked awake completely , now grinning at Steve. 

“captain America huh? Frankly I am disappointed in myself for not figuring it out sooner, the signs were all there“ Steve smirked , settling down on the chair next to the bed, happy that tony seemed more coherent and less vulnerable. 

“I guess you aren’t the genius everyone thought you were after all” tony fake gasped in offence. Steve just shook his head slightly at the theatrics. 

“How are feeling?” He asked, as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket and sat it down beside him. 

“okay I guess.” Tony said too quickly and Steve knew he hadn’t even given the question any consideration “you promised me answers” Steve pursed his lips as tony leaned forward a little , his eyes boring into Steve’s. 

“maybe you should sleep a little first, we don’t want your concussed brain getting too overloaded.” Steve tried but tony frowned at him, and Steve knew what was going to come next so he averted his eyes quickly. 

Tony was pouting full force, Steve could feel it even if he didn’t see it. He groaned inwardly as he succumbed. 

“what do you want to know?” He asked crossing his arms on his lap 

”are you okay?, you were really hurt Steve” he said, traces of fear lingered in his tone. 

“That's Mr.Rogers to you” Steve tried lightening the mood but tony worried at his lower lip suddenly irritated with Steve

“not funny, you were hurt it’s not fu-funny okay I thought you were dead and -“ Steve immediately regretted not addressing this sooner, tony was trembling again , eyes hazing over. He was going to have nightmares.

steve reached out to hold Tony’s hand , gripped it tightly until tony turned his palm and locked his fingers with Steve’s, his breathing picked up as he held on tightly. 

“I am okay tony, I am right here.” He said cutting through Tony’s panic, he gently tugged on the hand connected to his own to get his attention “remember when you asked how that cut on my cheek disappeared over night?” Tony nodded finally looking up at Steve again “you were right, I do have super healing abilities, the serum did that” tony nodded unbelieving. 

steve carefully pried his fingers out of Tony’s, “I am going to show you okay?” He said pulling his shirt over his head and Tony’s jaw dropped , there was a resounding pop as his lips parted. He reached his hand out hesitantly letting it hover over Steve’s chest, the angry scar running across it. 

steve watched Tony’s expression change from fear to wonder and then to something he hadn’t been expecting , his cheeks turned a bright pink, it was not all bad considering how pale he was but Steve quickly realised that he was blushing. 

before either of them could address it, the door opened , Clint and Natasha pushing their way through holding take out containers. They froze at the scene in front of them, Tony’s hand frozen above Steve’s now bare chest. 

“are we interrupting something?” Clint said smirking and nat smacked him on the back of his head. Tony’s hand immediately retreated, the blush travelled to the tips of his ears but he stayed silent. 

“Have you guys ever heard about knocking?” He said and pursed his lips to keep from smiling. 

“spies don’t knock” he said , and the three of them watched as recognition hit tony as his eyes went wide and his mouth twitched not knowing where to begin. 

“You probably have heard of us, black widow and hawk-“ 

“hawkeye! Holy shit, are you guys for real holy shirt” he said as he shifted on the bed now very excited, all traces of fear and fatigue erased. 

“language” Steve commented and the three of them glared at him 

“don’t be so hard on the kids, Mr.Rogers” nat said smugly as she walked to the little cart by the wall that held the medical supplies while Clint started opening the take out boxes, the smell suddenly reminding Steve just how hungry he was. 

“Dr Brandon told me you refused the shot, you must be in a lot of pain” she said as she loaded the syringe and turned around to eye tony while Steve frowned. 

tony for his part, scrambled backwards on the bed until he hit the mound of pillows. “I am fine thank you” he said, looking panicked. 

before Steve could say anything Clint interrupted “she’s great with sharp things, trust me on this. She once stabbed me with a knife and I barely felt it” he said casually shrugging his shoulders. Tony looked anything but amused , he turned to Steve , who gave him a nod telling him it’s okay and after a few seconds tony slowly lifted a arm at her. It was obvious he was in pain, but also obvious that he didn’t want to take the shot. Steve was started to think this kid maybe had a slight phobia to doctors and that maybe had Steve misunderstood him when he said the school nurse was scary. 

“put your shirt back on Steve, it’s blinding me” she said walking over to tony who tensed up. 

steve did as told, but also understood the motive over it . He did it deliberately slowly knowing tony was watching and just as he put his arms through he heard a whimper and a distinct “ow” . He smiled to himself pulling the shirt over completely. 

tony was not happy by the looks of it, as nat gently thumbed the area she had injected as tony stared at it like he could will it away. 

“so anyway, we got food” Tony was never given the chance to dwell as Clint held up two boxes “salad or burgers?” The look on Tony’s face was comical. 

“okay okay just kidding, here. Burgers for the kid, salad for cap” he said handing them over. 

it was a nice change of pace, sitting together eating. Steve was through with his salad before tony had even taken a single bite of his burger. That may have been because he was too busy asking questions about them and lucky for him and Clint, Natasha did most of the answering, evading questions like a pro. 

“okay, we have to get going. You take care okay bud?” They said after they were all done eating, cleaned up the mess they created. 

Tony's face fell, but he didn’t say anything , only nodded and pursed his lips as he watched them leave and the turned to Steve with the same expression.

”what?” Steve asked 

“you don’t have work to do?” He asked hopeful and sad. 

“I don’t,” Steve said shaking his lightly watching Tony’s face ease up again “you need to get some rest though, stane will be here in less than two hours” he said and tony frowned at him 

“I don’t want to go with obie” he mumbled “and I don’t need to sleep, I am fine” he said that loudly and Steve took a second to get a good look at tony , he looked downright exhausted. 

“are you still in pain?” He asked ignoring Tony’s first statement 

he shook his head “what’s wrong?” Steve knew something else was bothering him

“everytime I close my eyes, I see you unconconcious and bleeding” he said quietly , eyes averted. 

”I’ll tell you what, I will sit here with you the whole time. You don’t have to sleep, just rest okay?” Tony shook his head again lightly 

“sit with me” Steve cocked his head to the left 

“I am sitting with you, I told you I will” he said confused at why tony was repeating the same thing. 

“no I mean” he patted the bed awakwardly next to him “with me” he said unsurely. 

steve sighed and before he could refuse tony started again “please steve , just this once please” Steve didn’t know what he wanted frankly but it had taken great deal of effort for Steve let go of him in the first place before he went to change and he knew it would be harder when stane gets in. 

“I am your teacher tony, do you even know how old I am?” He asked “Ten years ,well actually more ,older than you buddy” he said and tony glared at him and then huffed ignoring what he said first. 

“Don’t call me buddy and I will be eighteen soon” Steve tried to will natasha and Clint to come back and save him from this but no matter what intensity he stared with at the door, no one came. 

“your dad, Howard ,was my best friend. I was best friends with your dad tony” he said hoping that would maybe steer him away from wanting this. 

“wait, you knew my dad?” Tony was on in his knees, suddenly excited and Steve sighed rubbing his palm over his weary face. 

“get some sleep please. It’s a school night, you have my class first thing in the morning and don’t think I won’t send you to detention for sleeping through my class” not that tony was coming to school tomorrow, he was injured and needed to recover for at least a few days. Because of Steve. He didn’t even want to think about what stane would have to say about all this. 

“please” he mumbled again softly , his chin down , and Steve hated himself for falling for the tremble in his voice as he shifted to the bed. Tony latched onto him immediately, as Steve manouvered them both so they were lying comfortably against the mound of pillows, Tony’s head tucked under Steve’s chin and his fingertips tracing patterns on his arm. Steve wrapped a protective hand around his back, a large palm settling on his spine as he gently rubbed up and down. Tony wilted against him, tension leaving his body.

“sleep tony, I have you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys like this version tony or the previous one? I don’t want him breaking down in front of Steve just yet.


	6. Chapter 6

“Captain, I was told to inform you that stane is here”

Steve groaned, not wanting to deal with the man. He was a familiar face for sure, what being a famous business man but that didn’t make Steve feel any comfortable.

“Is he coming in here or?” Steve asked as he unconsciously tightened his told on the teen currently passed out on his chest.

“meeting room eight, second floor. We didn’t give him access to the medbay” Steve smiled gratefully at her as she nodded and left closing the door behind her softly.

Tony had fallen asleep a few minutes into Steve holding him, his breathing steady and deep from exhaustion. His lips ,dry and lacking it’s normal luscious pink, were parted slightly as he slumbered on.

Steve didn’t want to wake him, things would be harder if tony was aware. Steve didn’t know why tony had insisted on staying here but he knew that was not going to be possible. Whether he liked it or not, stane was right about shield being dangerous for tony. This was no place for a teenager to be playing around.

He eased out from under tony, stuffing firm pillows under him before brushing the hair matted to his forehead one last time smoothing the slight frown there with a thumb.

“you will be okay” he whispered as he backed away from the teen.

The room was tense, not that Steve expected anything less. But it was downright chilled, the centralised air conditioning only making it worse. Steve hated the cold.

“I told you this would happen” the words landed like a slap and they weren’t even intended for him. Stane had stormed into the room fingers already pointed at Fury , the anger reverberating through the room. It made Steve’s arm hair prickle.

“Stane we both know this incident was a mere coincidence” Steve himself didn’t agree.

“This incident would have never occurred if tony was not here in the first place. And he sure as hell wouldn’t have stopped to greet his teacher in the goddman subway if you hadn’t enrolled him into the same damn school as this man” stane wouldn’t even meet his eyes, just pointing fingers while he glared at Fury.

“You have to understand that there always was a -“

“don’t you dare talk to me about risks, don’t you dare.” Steve has never seen fury not take the upper hand in an argument , especially when the other was yelling. “my boy is lying on a hospital bed, do you know what it feels like to get a call saying he was injured in a bomb blast?” Steve flinched

“Cap was the reason he is not pulp, it was mere coincidence that tony was taking the subway at that very moment. And if some other agent had been placed instead of cap, both of them would have been dead.” Steve didn’t even want to imagine that scenario. The thought of tony currently passed out on the bed after having a terrifying panic attack with a concussion in itself was suffice to to make Steve feel loathe.

Not to forget the hand shaped bruises all over his torso, when stane sees it he is not going to forgive Steve no matter what.

“Stane,” Steve started and the man whipped around facing him “I am truly sorry for what happened today. I am glad I was there to protect him but you were right he wouldn’t have stopped if it weren’t for me.” He could see fury, Natasha and Clint wanting to slam their palms into their foreheads.

“Damn straight! I was right and that’s why he is going back to boarding school away from you” Steve was having a little trouble breathing himself, as he watched stane stomp out to take tony away from him.

“We could have saved this you know” Clint started but Steve knew how dangerous their job was, it was one of the reasons why Steve couldn’t tell his students, they were all just kids. So was tony.

”he deserves better than this Clint, he’s only a child.” Nat rolled her eyes at him

“he already knows who you are, do you think he will be okay just leaving now?” Tony was going to hate him for leaving him like this without a goodbye. But it was something he could live with knowing tony was indeed safe and away from everything shield related.

After today, Steve really did understand stane’s side of things. It’s not about protecting tony from the dangers of what surrounds Shield but what surrounds and comes with captain America.

Tony will be okay, this is just a passing moment in his life.

Despite what he told himself, he didn’t sleep through the night. He was still sore from the blast, sure that he had broken a few ribs that were still healing. School seemed like a blessed distraction the come morning, but he didn’t expect that when he gets there, albeit a little late that his students will be already seated, two kids hovering around one particular brunette at the back of the class.

Tony was there, shaking his head at something pepper was asking him. He looked anything but okay, there was a paleness to his face that made Steve think he would pass out any second. His eyes were gaunt like he hadn’t slept all night and the crepe was gone from his hand, revealing the red and swollen wrist.

Steve shuffled in, apologising for being late, his eyes trained on tony as the rest of them took their seats quieting down. Tony wouldn’t even look at him, he kept his head down through the class. There was a moment where Steve thought he had fallen asleep, but he caught the slight movement his fingers made when it clenched and unclenched around his pencil. Pepper and his friend Rhodes were throwing worried glances at him every few seconds and Steve was half a mind away from sending tony to the school nurse and then home.

He wasn’t sure why tony was here, stane had made it clear that he would be forcing tony back to boarding school.

He wrapped up the class early, very early, twenty minutes short of the bell and let the students go on to their next without any homework.

Tony didn’t move to leave as expected and pepper and Rhodes were talking to him in hushed tones while tony only ignored them. After a few minutes , pepper sighed looking behind at Steve resignation and worry masking her face. Steve nodded at her and she seemed to understand immediately as she whispered something in Rhodes ear and they left silently leaving the two of them alone.

“Tony” he called out softly, not wanting to close the distance between them just yet. His eyes snapped up to meet his finally and Steve hated that look of unease and sadness they portrayed.

“Obie says I have to go back to boarding school” he said , looking square into Steve’s eyes, and it was worse than pointing fingers while accusing.

“I am sorry but I agree with him, it will be safer for you” tony didn’t even twitch

“I don’t want to go to boarding school” he said instead

“Stane was afraid you would get hurt, and that’s exactly what happened. We are only looking out for you and he knows best what you need to protect you” he shook his head , biting his lower lip drawing blood and Steve wanted to stop him from hurting himself further.

“Why does everyone talk about protecting me?” He asked but Steve didn’t know just how much tony knew about his past. Or about his parents.

“our job, at shield is dangerous tony. It’s not your everyday police and thief story. It’s real and innocent people always end up getting hurt. We don’t want that person to be you”

Tony scoffed raising an eyebrow “too late for that”

“exactly , we can’t let that happen again. I don’t want you to get caught up in the middle like this ever again” Steve explained

“you want me to go away so I don’t get hurt?” steve only pursed his lips looking away because he didn’t actually want the first part.

“but that’s exactly what you are doing” that made him turn his back surprised that tony had raised his voice. He looked back once to make sure no one was lingering in the hallway. “you are hurting me by letting me go”

Steve sighed, finally giving in and walking over to where tony was sat. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him.

“Look at me tony,” tony turned , lips pursed “this infatuation you have with me is just a phase, you are very young. You deserve better , a lot better than this” he said waving at his battered body.

“I know you feel it too, don’t lie to me please steve not after yesterday” he was pleading now and Steve was feeling worse than he was all night “you know you are only hurting me more by letting me go”

“even if that’s true , I am sorry to say but I agree with stane. It is safer for you” tony clenched and unclenched his already swollen hand tightly like feeling the pain was keeping him grounded.

“no, there’s something you can do . You are captain America!” He said stubbornly , chin jutted up

“that’s not how this works tony, you know that” Steve was surprised at the last argument, he had expected more snippy smart retorts but he wasn’t prepared for this kind of pleading,

“you are not my father, you don’t get to decide what’s good for me and neither is obie” Steve knew he was exhausted and these arguments were only last threads he using to hang on. But he was failing miserably and Steve hated taking advantage of them in this state.

“No tony I am not, that’s precisely what I am saying. I don’t have any say in this matter” the fight left Tony’s body as he dropped his head into his hands.

steve waited a few minutes, as he rubbed gentle circles on his back. He didn’t know how to make this better for him.

“tony ,hey do you want me to take you home?” He asked

“I don’t want to go home” he mumbled

“you aren’t doing so well tony, it won’t help if you run yourself down like this bud” tony slapped his hand away

“don’t call me that.”

“tony..” Steve sighed giving up

”obie said my parents were murdered and that’s why I have to be protected” Steve froze , watching as tony carefully lifted his head to look at him

“Obie lied to me all these years and I don’t want to deal with him right now” okay at least Steve knew why tony was in school today instead of resting at home,but there were more concerns rising.

”does he know you are at school?” Because if he didn’t, Steve knew where exactly the blame would fall but tony nodded and Steve was relieved.

“he said I could say goodbye to my friends.” He said shrugging his shoulders , he turned full bodied to Steve looking at him through his lashes “did you know they were murdered?”

steve swallowed not wanting to admit it “I did” but tony nodded like he understood why Steve was hesitating but Steve needed tony to know the whole truth

“I thought you died too along with them. I found out only a few months ago that you were Howard’s son. It changed a lot for me” tony looked like he was caught off guard , absolutely not expecting that.

“I know it seems like there are a lot of secrets people are hiding from you, I know what that feels like. But sometimes you have the understand that they are only holding information back to protect you” tony frowned at him not liking what he was being told.

They sat there in silence for a few more minutes before Steve decided that tony was really in no condition to be at school.

“let me take you home” he insisted and this time tony moved away from him

“I can’t face him now, please” Steve contemplated for a few seconds before gently bringing his hand down on Tony’s back.

“Okay, sit tight for a few minutes. I will be right back” Tony didn’t look up at him only nodding.

Steve quickly made his way to the principals office, to request that he take the rest of the day off and that tony gets to too. Carrying the approved letters he then made his way to Bruce, to let him know and maybe borrow his car.

Bruce seemed a little more excited at the prospect of Steve helping tony through this than Steve would have thought.

“Is he going to be alright?” Steve nodded

“he just needs some people he can trust, he’s young. He will cope” Steve said as optimistic but unsure of himself.

“okay I really hope so too and don’t worry about the car, You can pick me up on the way to school tomorrow” Steve thanked him, eternally grateful for having a friend like him.

He made a pit stop in the cafeteria to buy a sandwich and some soda. He didn’t like the way tony looked and wanted to get some food into him asap but just as he entered his class room his heart stopped for a second when he found it empty. Irrational fear gripped him as he went in and out of the adjacent empty classrooms looking for the teen before he realised that he had let his class out early that it was now time for the next class and Steve knew tony had gym after his class.

His heart calmed the moment his eyes landed on tony sitting on the stands by the basketball court watching the game. Just as he was about to walk up to him he was stopped by the gym teacher

“hey, steve! Here to play my man?” Steve shook his head politely pointing a hand to tony “not today, I am actually here for tony stark, need him for something if that’s alright with you”

“He ain’t looking too good today so he’s not playing. He’s all yours” Steve nodded in thanks , promising him to drop by soon for a game.

“tony” he called as he approached the teen but he didn’t seem to hear him. He was watching the game intently and when steve got closer he realised he was watching Rhodes’ every move. Tracking him running around the court.

“hey, I told you to stay put” he said sitting down next to him , tony shrugged not looking at him.

“you didn’t stay yesterday either when I asked you” he stated

“tony ,hey look at me” Steve asked gently pulling on his hand to get his attention. He held up the letter to him “I got permission from the principal for you to go home for the day”

”I don’t want to go home” he said rolling his eyes

“I didn’t say you have to go home” Steve said, waiting for tony to understand what he was saying,

”I don’t have anywhere else to go” if that didn’t hurt his heart, Steve didn’t know what else will.

He stood up brushing his pants holding a hand out for tony “come on” he said

“where to?” Steve gave him a small smile a frown forming on Tony’s face

“You are not the only one who got permission to go home. You can either sit here and sulk or come spend your last day with me” he said holding up the other letter and Tony’s eyes went wide as he quickly got up following Steve out the gym and into the parking lot.

He hesitated when they got to the car “this is Dr.Banner’s car” Steve nodded motioning for him to get in

”I am not so sure you can handle a bike ride at the moment” he said and tony frowned at him after they were seated and buckled in.

“I am not an imbecile, I can sit on a bike” Steve held back the urge to roll his eyes at the teen

“you look like you are about to keel over tony, have you taken your meds?”

“no I don’t, and I don’t need meds because I am not in pain” Steve sighed , giving in for the moment and dropped the sandwich and soda on Tony’s lap.

“eat” he said and tony for once did as told.

“where are we going?” He asked mouth full as they pulled out of the parking lot and Steve glanced at him as a smile played on his lips waiting for his reaction

“to my place” he said casually as he watched tony almost choke on his sandwich and Steve slowed down so he could drink some soda.

“you okay?” He asked pulling into drive again and tony nodded still looking bewildered but did not question him at all. In fact he stayed silent eating his sandwich until they reached Steve’s apartment.

“Nice place” he commented when Steve opened the door for them and tony stood in the center , looking around unsure what to do.

“sit down,” he said gently pushing tony towards the large couch. His apartment wasn’t extravagant but it was large, it had large furniture because Steve was not a small man. It was cozy enough for Steve to feel like home.

“What are we gonna do?” He Asked pulling his legs up, siting cross legged as he dropped his bag down onto the floor carelessly. Steve picked it up and put it on the center table.

“I am going check you over quickly and then we are going to talk” he said as he went into his bathroom to retrieve his first aid kit. It was stocked well considering his superhero status.

“But I am fine! And what is there to talk about?” He asked sulking already at the prospect of talking. Steve sighed bringing a blanket along with him and dropped it on the teens lap.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that and there is plenty to talk about” he said as he sat on the edge of the table in front of tony who was warily watching him pull out a little flash light.

”ow! stop it” he whined as Steve held his chin in place while shining the light at his left eye.

“Almost done, look here” he said guiding Tony’s face to turn to the right and did the same to his other eye. Satisfied with what he saw he dropped the flashlight back into its little pouch.

“why did you take off the crepe bandage?” Steve turned Tony’s hand to see that it did indeed look worse than yesterday.

“I didn’t like the color and stop it” he said yanking his hand out of Steve’s frowning at him unhappily while Steve ignored him, tugging on the hem of his shirt which made tony startle and lean as far away from him as possible

“no, no touching” he said smacking at Steve’s hands “stop that I told you I am fine and nothing hurts”

steve was now very concerned, he was obviously not okay , his hand was worse than it had been yesterday and Steve was already contemplating taking him to a hospital.

“what’s going on tony?” He asked moving to crouch on the floor in front of tony. Yesterday tony had refused to let Steve out of his sight clinging to him like a toddler. He knows tony was in shock after that blast but this was a drastic change from yesterday. He was also very acutely aware of Tony’s ‘no touching’ statement. It had worried him when he said it yesterday and it worried him even more today.

“nothing is going on. I am fine, you already saw that yesterday” he said slapping at Steve’s hands again.

”your reaction said otherwise, why don’t you take off your shirt and show me you are okay and we will stop this conversation right now” Steve said softly, trying not to spook tony into becoming more defensive.

It was startlingly clear to Steve, everything made sense suddenly, the flinch when Steve had bumped into him, hiding injuries , the panic attacks and not to mention Tony’s no touching policy. Someone was deliberately hurting him, and Steve was furious.

“is this why you brought me here, to get my out of my clothes?” He said voice steely, fingers fidgeting and Steve reeled back taking his hands away from the teen.

“I would never do that to you” Tony seemed to know that and yet he was hesitant in nodding “I just want to make sure you are okay” Steve was aware he sounded like he was talking to a child but tony seemed so young at the moment cowering in the depths of Steve’s large couch.

“I told you I am!” Steve sighed , laying an arm carefully beside tony, not touching .

“you mentioned several times yesterday that you didn’t want to go with obie, is he the one hurting you?” Steve watched as tony shuddered , shock and fear flashing across his face as he stared at Steve’s hand beside him.

“I never said that, I wouldn’t have said that” he mumbled and now Steve knew it was real. He took several deep breaths to carefully contemplate how to handle this. He had expected it and yet it was still just as shocking and jarring.

“I want to hold you, is that okay tony?” Tony’s eyes snapped up to his , it was clear he was still doubting Steve’s motives. But Steve’s own fear for tony and anger for the man was starting to seep through his carefully neutral face.

“And then leave me again like you did yesterday?” Tony’s words cut through him painfully

“please sweetheart, let me hold you” tony leaned forward ever so slightly ,but it was all the green light Steve needed as he wrapped his arms around the teen and pressed him close to his heart.

“We are going to fix this” he felt tony shaking his head and pushing him away , Steve let him.

“there is nothing to fix, nothing has happened” he insisted , steve didn’t like the way he sounded, exhaustion and fear and anguish combined in his tone.

“Why don’t you show me where he hurt you? Is it your ribs again?” He said trying not to grit his teeth and forcefully stopping his hands from tightening around the table frame.

“It was not obies fault, he didn’t do anything” Steve blinked at the new information, but just because stane was not the one who did this , it didn’t mean someone wasn’t abusing him. And Steve was yet to see the damage.

”okay, we will talk more about that later. But right now I need to know if I should be taking you to the hospita-“ tony moved startlingly fast, he was unsteady on his feet and Steve caught him easily pushing him back into the couch hands on either side of him gripping the cushions.

“I need to know tony, this is not okay. Please show me where he hurt you” tony was starting to tremble and Steve knew he was setting off a panic attack immediately given how tony started breathed faster.

”please stop” he said looking down , he was clenching his hands again and Steve reached out to stop him from hurting the injured hand further.

“hey, look at me honey” tony refused to look up and Steve’s heart was racing , he needed to call Natasha and Clint . Have them find out what was going on. They had been so wrong about tony being safe with stane. There was no way Steve was going to let him take tony now.

“If you are being abused, you have to tell me. This is not okay on any account tony. Look at me please” he said squeezing his right hand.

”don’t say that, that’s not what’s happening” Steve didn’t like this , he didn’t like the way tony was still denying it. What had they done to him?

“is that what he tells you? That this is normal?” Tony jumped, trying to pull him hands away. Steve only let go of the injured one. He mumbled something and Steve had to remind himself to take deep breaths.

“I am going to make a call and then you are going to show me where he hurt you. I need to know that you are okay. Do you understand me?” He said sternly , he needed to know and he couldn’t take anymore of the stalling.

Tony surprisingly nodded “Kay, but it was not obie , it’s not his fault. Don’t call him . Promise me you won’t call him.” He said his eyes flitting between Steve’s face and the phone he had picked up.

”I am not calling stane. I am going to call Natasha okay? Take the shirt off ,come on. Is it as bad as last time?” He asked lifting the phone to his ear as it rang but didn’t take his eyes off tony.

Tony carefully peeled the shirt over his head , Steve didn’t waste a second before scanning his eyes all over the teens the abdomen chest. He didn’t see anything new. The same bruises Steve’s hands had left and a few patches from the blast.

“Steve this better be important, I am in the middle of something” came the voice on the other side of the line.

“I need you at my apartment stat” tony shook his head eyes wide

”no Steve please no” Steve held his arm firmly to hold him in place as he continued to scan his body for signs of abuse,

“is that tony?” Natasha asked and before Steve could answer, he caught sight of the large boot shaped bruise blossoming on Tony’s back. It looked painfully raw and Steve almost choked on his words

“I need all the intel on stane that we have and I need you here yesterday” he cut the call dropping the phone before he broke it.

“I don’t want anyone to see-“ Steve ignored him, turning him so that he could get a better look at the bruise.

“is this all? Are you hurt elsewhere?” He asked as he prodded at the bruise making him wince.

“Even you are not listening to me now” he whined and Steve suddenly realised he was right, he dropped his hands looking at the teen.

“I am sorry, I am just angry and worried for you. This is not okay tony, how long has this been going on?”

”I don’t want anyone to see” he said again adamantly and Steve sighed wanting to wrap his arms around tony and protect him from the sights of everyone.

“only Natasha okay? I promise no one else, can you please tell me how long this has been happening?” Tony pursed his lips looking away .

In one way Steve was relieved because he now knew for sure but in another he was so angry at the moment he didn’t know how much longer he could contain it. He decided the questions can wait as he arranged the pillows along the arm of the couch patting it.

“Why don’t you lay down for sometime” he suggested

“no, I am fine.” He said and before Steve could argue he softly spoke again avoiding Steve’s gaze “why are you doing this, I thought you didn’t want me”

Steve’s rational side of brain stopped working “who told you that?”

“You did, when you said I should go back with obie”

“oh sweetheart. I wanted you to go with stane because I thought it was safer for you not because I didn’t want you. And trust me when I say this , you are not going anywhere okay, I am not going to let that happen now.” Tony’s eyes lit up as he turned to look at him

“so you want me?” Steve sighed , a hesitant smile playing on his lips. of-course that’s the only part tony heard. He placed both his palms on either side of Tony’s face and pulled him in for a kiss. It wasn’t even a real kiss, just a brush of lips and tony gasped as Steve pullled back looking shocked and excited at the same time.

“is this okay?” He asked as he brushed his thumbs across his cheeks and tony nodded fevereshly trying to move in closer to kiss him again but Steve held him back smiling fully now.

“I need to hear it tony” tony grinned at him cheekily all traces of their previous conversation forgotten and bit his lower lip

“it’s more than okay!” He exclaimed wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck and then Steve kissed him. Really kissed him.

It was short, and sweet and completely inexperienced on Tony’s part and Steve loved it. He would cherish this kiss forever. Steve pulled back, tony following his lips and Steve chuckled at him holding him back.

Tony was blushing, he was red all the way down to his chest. It was adorable and Steve wanted to kiss every part of him. He pulled away, as tony sat shy all of a sudden as Steve pulled the blanket over the teen and guided him to lay down.

“Happy now?” He asked and tony nodded, smiling as he stared in awe at Steve. “good, we have a lot to discuss but I want you to sleep for a bit first” tony shook his head immediately trying to get up.

“You want me to lay down with you? Will that help you sleep?” Because Steve can do that now and tony seemed eagerly happy about the suggestion. He manhandled tony , albeit mindful of all the injuries and wedged himself between tony and and the couch holding him securely.

It calmed Steve more than anything, having his arms around the teen made him feel he was protected.

“Close your eyes” tony propped himself up on his forearms on Steve’s chest, looking at him smugly “what?” Steve asked

“Just in case this a dream, I am not sleeping” Steve barked out a laugh.

“that made no sense whatsoever” tony stuck his tongue out at him

“only geniuses can understand”Steve rolled his eyes at him running his fingers through Tony’s hair.

“How are you feeling, really?”

“my head hurts” Steve looked at him with sympathy and continued running his hand through his hair.

“can I ask you something sweetheart?” Tony hummed and closed his eyes.

“you insist on people not touching you, but not me. Why?” Tony laid his head down on Steve’s chest, giving Steve more access to massage his scalp.

“because you always ask me or tell me before you do it” okay, that made sense but now it had Steve wondering how many times tony had asked for someone not to and they had done it anyway.

He pondered that thought for a while as Tony’s breathing evened out enough for Steve to believe he had fallen asleep. He kissed the top of his head just about to ease out from under him when there was a soft knock on the door and tony startled awake almost tipping over.

It seemed to take him a moment to focus and Steve explained to him that it was Natasha ata the door. He stiffened immediately when Steve yelled for her to come in.

She froze at the doorway taking in the scene for a second and then broke into a smirk “Steve if you wanted the money you could have just asked us, there was no need to kidnap the son of a billionaire”

“I didn’t want the money, I wanted the son” tony blushed some more when Steve said that , trying to get up but Steve kept him down against him.

Natasha walked over to the refrigerator to pull out a water bottle, taking a sip and dropping the bottle on the counter as she eyed them both carefully.

“All is good as long you have figured out what to tell stane” both them watched as tony stiffened, wincing at the name.

“what’s going on?” She finally asked sitting down on the single couch. Steve sat them both up, holding the blanket securely around Tony’s shoulders

“can you show her?” Tony looked at him with pleading eyes silently asking him not to make him do this

“show me what? Did someone hurt you? What happened?” Steve knew she was very good at what she does and one of the requirements of being a spy was to be able to read situations and people well. So it didn’t surprise him at all that she had already figured it out, it was one of the reasons he called her.

Tony seemed shocked though, he looked at Steve , suddenly afraid but Steve rubbed a gentle hand across his shoulders “it’s okay tony, show her”

He didn’t expect the anger and rage to show through on her face, she was usually very much in control but it was honestly very comforting to know that Natasha was on his side.

“Stane?” She asked as tony pulled the blanket up over himself again and unconsciously tucked himself into Steve’s side prompting him to wrap an arm around him securely.

“It was not obies fault” he said frowning at her

”it was someone’s fault then, so tell me who it was” she demanded. She could be scary when needed and Steve was afraid tony would shut down.

“he has a friend, Rumlow” he muttered and they both leaned in a little closer

“how does this friend have such close access to you, does stane know ?” Tony winced again at her tone but Steve was not going intervene as long as it had him talking.

“he comes home a lot, and there are a lot of parties and launches . Rumlow and obie are best friends” he said , he sounded small hiding in Steve’s arms.

“Does stane know?” Tony refused to look at them and that was answer enough. Steve growled , it vibratedthrough his chest as he thought about stanes audacity to have stormed in yesterday and talk about his boy getting hurt.

“tony, I need to ask. Look at me hon” the sudden softness to her voice made Steve and tony whip their eyes up to meet hers.

“is it only physical or have they been sexu-“ Steve froze, it hadn’t even occurred to him and when tony pursed his lips Steve dreaded the words that were going to come out of his mouth

“once, he tried but nothing-“ Steve had stood up and was out the door before tony finished that sentence “-happened”

steve was fuming, his ears were ringing and he wanted to smash something as he clenched his teeth and fists tightly.

he walked back and forth a few times trying to calm himself down enough to face tony again. The door opened , Natasha walking out shutting the door closed softly behind her. Steve really envied her, he wished he could control his emotions as well as her.

“We are going to help him Steve, but you can’t act like this. Not in front of him” Steve nodded , still miserably failing to calm down

“he thinks you are mad at him” Steve’s eyes snapped up to hers

“why? That’s stupid” he huffed

“Because you stormed out while he was finally opening up, he thinks you are mad because he didn’t tell you earlier” well he was mad, he was extremely mad. But not at tony.

Steve sighed in frustration as nat moved away from the door, “go tell him you are on his side. I am going to go talk to coulson and find out what I can” she said and he thanked her silently watching her go.

He stood out in the hallway for a few more seconds and only entered again after he was sure he wouldn’t scare tony. Tony was standing by the window, swaying ever so slightly exhaustion catching up to him.

”Hey” he said going to him and tony took a hesitant step back not looking at him

“you don’t have to do this” Steve pulled the teen to him, holding him tight. Tony’s head tucked just under his chin , he could feel the slight tremors going through his spine.

Tony had no idea the things steve would do for him, the moment he had found out that this was Howard’s kid, Steve’s world had turned upside down.

“I got you sweetheart” he whispered lips brushing against the teens ear.

Stane and whoever this Rumlow character was , were going to have tough times ahead steve thought as tony melted against him allowing Steve to carry most of his weight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me forever to write, things are going to be a little different from here on ! 
> 
> Hope you Enjoy :)


	7. Chapter 7

“Tony"

“Mm..noo" a displeased whine escaped his lips as Steve tried to move him off his chest and onto a more comfortable position on the couch so he could actually sleep. But Tony was being stubborn, his eyes so desperately wanting to close and he wouldn’t let them. He kept a tight hold on Steve’s shirt and his head against his chest enjoying the quiet rumble of Steve’s chest as he spoke quietly to him ,they spoke about Steve’s past, how he became captain america and how it changed things for him. Tony had a lot of questions and Steve tried to answer them as best as he could. 

“You need sleep" he tried again, but Tony shook his head frowning at him displeased. 

“Stop trying to make me sleep, I am not a child” steve sighed giving up as he pulled them upright, with tony resisting.

He rolled his eyes at the now pouting teen and pulled away from him to reach for the first aid kit he had abandoned a while ago. 

Steve had sat considering their options of how to handle this. He was internally raging and needed to go a few rounds with a punching bag but he couldn’t leave Tony alone, besides he didn’t want to. He had finally given in to his lustful desires and kissed the teen, safe to say he wasn’t going anywhere for a while, from the teen that is. 

He wasn’t sure why Tony was defending Stane when he clearly had some role in this abuse. Every time he remembered how stane had walked in yesterday Steve felt the need to shatter something. He kept his hands carefully around Tony, one carding through his hair and the other on his waist, thumb slowly stroking the bare , soft skin. It had a calming effect on him and Steve reveled in that fact and as soon as Steve had pushed him away to patch up his abused hand , the rage had started to kindle again. 

“I have to go to SHIELD, need to talk to natasha.” He said as he gently wrapped his wrist with a green self adhesive wrap. Tony looked at him pursing his lips and then biting the lower one. “You can stay here or come with me , I am sure clint would love to show you around" 

Tony frowned at him, reaching into his pant pockets and pulling out the sleek phone. “I have to go home, obie will be back soon" 

Steve worried at his lower lip now before slowly looking up at him, “I think it might be best you stay here” tony looked at him wide eyed, stiffening and sat up straighter . He shook his head and pulled his hand out from Steve’s grasp, 

“No I have to go home" he said hurriedly looking suddenly afraid as he looked around for his discarded bag and shoes.

The reaction took Steve by surprise and he sat there crouched on the floor for a few seconds as he watched Tony put on his shoes with sudden determination. 

“Tony,” he called and when that didn’t get his attention , steve stood up , crossed over to where the teen was struggling to pull his shoe over his heel and grabbed his elbow, forcing him to stop what he was doing and look up at Steve. 

“you can’t make me stay here, I have to go home. Obie will be back soon and-" steve tightened his hold on him elbow as Tony spoke with sudden hastiness.

“stop, hey nobody is making you do anything. If what you really want is to go home then I will drop you home.” He iterated so Tony would understand that he wasn’t going to hold him hostage here like he was apparently thinking.

“I am only giving you an option, I won’t force you to do anything Tony. No one should.” Tony nodded , avoiding his eyes and Steve waited patiently for Tony to confirm to him that that’s what he really wanted. No matter how much Steve did not want it, he was not going to make Tony do anything he was not comfortable with. 

“I want to go home" he said softly and Steve sighed pulling him closer. Tony dropped the shoe in his hand in favor of wrapping them around Steve’s waist. 

“Okay, but I need you to promise me that you will call me if you need me or if anything happens. Can you do that?” he asked moving a hand to wrap around the back of Tony’s neck as he felt the teen nod against his chest. 

“thank you" he said , smiling but internally unhappy and confused with Tony’s choice

“And not that I am complaining , but you might want to put on your shirt first" he felt a laugh course through the teen as he let him go to watch the blush spread through his cheeks. 

“I am not going anywhere Tony, I want to make sure you understand that.” He said when he finally got him to look up , tony obviously had insecurities regarding Steve’s presence but it was Steve’s own fault, he was the one who had left him yesterday without a goodbye. 

“Sure" tony said shrugging his shoulders and Steve felt his heart tug. 

“Come here" tony looked surprised when Steve pulled him along with him towards the couch and sat down pulling Tony onto his lap. It was awkward for a second until Tony readjusted on his lap and settled with a shy purse of lips. 

“I know I don’t have all the information about what’s going on here but I won’t stand by and watch someone hurt you. Even if this relationship doesn’t work out between us , I am not going to go away , not unless you want me to.” Tony nodded silently, fingers twisting nervously in his shirt. 

Tony refused to say anything so steve brushed the hair off his forehead, and forced his chin up so he could kiss him softly before pushing him off his lap. 

“Come on, I’ll drop you off and then you can really get some rest" he said eyeing the teen one last time to make sure he was going to be okay. 

“Uhm I don’t think obie will appreciate that. I’ll take a cab" he had a point, and if tony was insisting then Steve wasn’t going to push. 

“Where is he?” Natasha was buried under what Steve presumed were files they had on stane. It didn’t look like there was much. He knew most of it would be about the company and not personal information about the businessman. 

“He wanted to go home, I let him go" he earned a dubious glare from her and he shrugged his shoulders pulling one of the files towards himself. 

“Are you seriously telling me you let him go back? Why would he want that?” he startled a little at the new voice , turning to see clint perched on a cabinet, legs swinging fingers turning a page on a suspiciously large file.

Of course natasha would have told him, he was planning to do so himself, but it still made him feel a little guilty when he thought about how Tony hadn’t wanted anyone to know and now Steve was roping in so many people. He shook his head lightly telling himself that these are the good people , the people that will help Tony out of this situation as best as they can. 

Besides, clint and natasha and thor were his most trusted teammates, he functioned best with them. 

“I didn’t want to push him, you should have seen him. He denied it till the last minute.” Steve said remembering how stunned Tony had looked when he realized that Steve had already figured it out. 

“we are going to need him to talk if we want to do this legally, which I am presuming is the best way to go ahead with this, considering that there is a company at stake" steve frowned, he hadn’t thought of that.

So far Steve’s plan was to barge in, hero style and take the man out of the equation. Okay he had to admit that his judgment was currently very clouded from anger. All the more reason to have involved the spies . Tony would understand, if not then steve would explain it to his much younger ‘boyfriend?’ that this was for his own good. 

He was handed the file Clint was reading , a finger pointing at a particular page. The format looked oddly familiar and as Steve read it, he realized it was Howard’s will. 

It was stated clearly that the company was to be handed over to Anthony Edward stark when he turns twenty one and until then for the company to be run under the management of obadiah stane. Ofcourse that made sense, stane was Howard’s business partner after all. 

It took a minute for Steve to figure out why the spies were looking at him with an odd expression, waiting for some sort of reaction from him, when it hit him. 

“There’s nothing in here that mentions what happens to the company in case something happens to Tony” he shuddered at the thought but quickly shook the thoughts away. 

“it also doesn’t explain why howard decided to leave the company in the hands of a twenty one year old when clearly his business partner would be able to handle things better.” Nat said chewing on the end of a pencil. She was right, it didn’t explain why Howard didn’t leave even part of the company to stane. 

“It also means that Tony is expendable” clint stated 

“that works only if the company went to stane after Tony’s death, but there is nothing mentioned as such here. Which may explain why he saved the kid from the crash" Steve’s head was reeling just a little bit at the talk of Tony’s death and car crash. But he nodded as they speculated. 

“So Tony would have to write stane in, which would mean he had to be good Tony not the other way around" steve said flipping through the other files. 

“There is obviously something we are missing here" clint made a face , steve recognized that face immediately 

“Don’t even think about infiltrating the company" clint looked absolutely devastated like a kid who just dropped his icecream on the floor. 

“It might be a really good idea, but it’s too early. Besides Clint nobody would take toyr seriously in the corporate world" Clint huffed faking offense. It was true, clint couldn’t go too long without being playful. It was how he dealt with stress. 

Steve ran a hand, trying to rub the weariness away from his face ,natasha was right. It might help them understand what was going on within the company. But right now, the problem felt more personal than company related. 

“did he say anything else after I left? There has to be more. How long has this been going on? How bad is it?” steve shook his head at her 

“he doesn’t trust me completely yet and nor should he. I don’t want to spook him, he is adamant and stubborn and if we push him too hard he will get defensive" if tony was anything like howard then Steve atleast had experience in that department .

Howard was stubborn and ignorant of his own health and Steve and maria had learnt how to keep him afloat without him knowing. 

“Not to mention he is just a kid , steve" clint waited until he looked up at him “I know he’s cute and pretty but are you sure this is the direction you want it to go in?” Steve wanted to roll his eyes, but clint as one of his closest friends had a right to ask. 

“I honestly don’t know, I was trying to avoid it as best as I can. Trust me I really tried" both nat and Clint smirked at him “but yesterday happened and I held him in my arms as he slept you know?” it was the first time he had caught natasha trying to hide a smile at him , he knows he must look flustered and it was odd to think that a sixteen year old had him feeling this way. 

“but the timing of it Steve, if it doesn’t work out you can't walk out, it will do him more harm than good” steve pursed his lips at clint wondering when he became the smart one. 

“I don’t intend to" he confirmed. 

“Good. Now how are we going to keep him here ?” now that was something they could manage. 

Steve was excited to get to school the next morning, okay excited was not the right word. He was just looking forward to seeing Tony and to maybe hold him when no one was looking. It was going to be a challenge to make this work, but Steve didn’t want to think too deeply into that. Right now his only concern was to make sure Tony was alright. That didn’t have anything to do with their developing relationship. 

“good morning?” Bruce asked as he got into his car, he had promised he would pick him up as he had taken Bruce’s car last afternoon to take Tony home. 

“Why do you ask?” he said, failing to keep from smiling at the scientist. 

“You have this energy about you" he said shrugging 

“It’s been certainly interesting” He told him and Bruce turned to look at him, eyes squinting 

“I am going assume it has something to do with Tony. Speaking of Tony, how is he doing?” ofcourse bruce had caught on, bruce was one of the smartest people he knew. 

“I will let you know once I see him at school" bruce murmured something too low for Steve’s enhanced ears and didn’t comment further. 

By the time Steve finally laid his eyes on the teen , he was pent up with nervous energy which he had realized was just the need to see for himself that Tony was okay because now Steve knows what was happening at his home and that he was going to be feeling this everytime Tony was at home. 

But when steve saw the teen, the concern and worry only increased. He was sat between his two friends the side of his head resting on his wrist which was propped up on the table with his elbow. He looked even more tired and worn out than he did yesterday his eyes lazily looking into his phone as rhodey and pepper spoke over him to each other. 

His back snapped up , eyes blinking itself open when Steve announced his presence. Steve wanted to give him a reassuring smile but he kept it carefully contained as he started the days lesson plan.

Five minutes into the silence of his class while he spoke about the French revolution Tony’s head dropped onto rhodey's shoulder, his eyes shut. Steve almost took a tentative step towards him but aborted at The last moment and tried to finish the class as best as he could. 

As the bell rang he sat down at his desk watching the students file out. Steve’s happy mood in the morning turned quickly into anxiety when he saw Tony. He was so close and yet Steve couldn’t do anything about it. 

Rhodey looked up at Steve with questioning eyes and Steve shook his head lightly trying to convey that he shouldn’t wake the teen. Pepper smiled next to them and leaned over to whisper in rhodeys ear, he then gently pushed Tony off himself letting his head fall into his arms on the desk and they left silently. 

Steve was grateful that these two were the ones Tony was comfortable with. He has known them for the few years he has been teaching and Steve knows that they are good kids. 

He forced himself to focus on the papers in front of him that he had to finish grading, letting tony sleep a little longer. He had gym after Steve’s class but Tony was in no shape to be playing today and Steve would write him a note for the next time. He didn’t think Tony would miss it either way. 

Thirty minutes later Steve decided to save Tony from a back ache after sleeping on the desk. He locked his door and walked over the lightly snoring teen. 

“Tony?” he called out softly, refraining from touching him but Tony didn’t stir so he reached out to rub slow circles on his back “wake up buddy" Tony startled awake and if Steve hadn’t wrapped an arm around his waist reflexively he would have tipped over from his chair.

He looked around , eyes wide and panicked until Steve spoke gently to him getting him back to the present.

“Tony, it’s just me sweetheart. You are okay" tony relaxed against him , leaning back against him trying to get the kinks out of his neck. Steve wrapped a large warm palm behind the nape of his neck kneading the muscles there. 

“You with me?” Tony nodded , wiping the sleep from his face with his good hand. 

“Hey" he croaked and Steve’s heart went out to him. Tony was clearly exhausted and had not slept yesterday after he had sent him home. 

“You don’t look so good” Steve said sympathetically as Tony stared back at him with bleary eyes. He pouted , a whine escaping his lips as he tried to push himself off the desk but Steve held him down before he could.

“You know, if I knew all it would take for you to fall asleep was my teaching I would have done it sooner" he said grinning at the teen. 

“Maybe you should consider teaching yoga" his hair was askew and his voice raspy and there were indents on his face from where he had slept on his hand, he looked adorable as Steve leaned down to kiss him on his temple. 

“So this wasn’t just one big dream then" tony said staring at Steve in awe while Steve placed a palm on his forehead wondering if he was sick. He felt fine. Warm, but that was from having just passed out on his desk in the middle of class. 

“I am going to need a reference here" steve asked looking at him cautiously running his hands along Tony’s back. 

“You and me" he said smiling sweetly but still managing to blush shyly. 

“Ah" steve smirked “maybe you need a reality check huh?” he said and when Tony looked at him through squinting doubtful eyes he pulled the teen in for a kiss. 

“Woah" Tony whispered when he pulled back as steve pulled up a chair and sat beside him. 

“how are you feeling? Did anything happen at home?” steve asked him, seriousness taking over as Tony bounced lightly in his chair out of apparent excitement 

“Yeah! Obie said I don’t have to go boarding school” the relief on Tony’s face was palpable amd Steve was so glad to see it. “Did you have something to do with it?” he asked suddenly frowning at Steve 

“Maybe" tony bit his lower lip, a smirk playing on his lips. 

“We have to talk Tony, there is a lot of gaps that are unfilled here. I have some questions” he didn’t want to bring this up but the sooner he knew the sooner they could fix it. 

“About what? I told you everything yesterday" he said hesitantly , it was clear he didn’t want to discuss this any further but Steve had to know. 

“I need you to sit down with me and nat and answer a few questions for us" tony was shaking his even before Steve was done talking 

“No thank you" his lips pursed like a five year old throwing a tantrum 

“I am only trying to help honey" tony looked at him through his lashes for a few seconds before sighing 

“Fine but only you no natasha" that would do as long as he was talking. “can we go to your place today after school?” 

“Sure" steve smiled “we will talk then" Tony’s smile dropped 

“Do you need a hallway pass to the nurse? Get some more sleep?” steve asked him as he got up checking his watch, it was almost time for his next class.

Tony followed, taking his bag with him 

“Nope, I have physics next. I like Dr.Banner, he doesn’t put me to sleep" steve flicked him on his forehead while Tony mock gasped at him 

“I would watch my mouth if I were you or it could land you in detention" steve smirked pulling Tony in for a hug ,slotting his head under his chin while tony snorted. 

For now Steve was content but he knew the anxiety would be back when Tony went back home for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! 
> 
> I had actually written it but somehow got deleted and had to re-write it!! I am just upset because it's honestly been hard to write it again. It's never the same again 🙈


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one! 
> 
> Last time I didnt write the part where Tony finally opens up to Steve. So here it is!

Tony was nervous. That much was clear to Steve seeing as how Tony tried to stall with every which way he could imagine as steve tried to get the teen to get in his car, which steve had natasha drop off to school.

"I am hungry though, I didn't eat my lunch cause pep needed help with her math homework" tony was chewing on his lip looking at Steve through fluttering lashes.

It made steve want to kiss him senseless.

But ofcourse he didnt, so far steve had been very conscious of the teens body and his own when they were in proximity.

"You just made me pay for a chocolate bar from vending machine which you are apparently not eating?" Steve said raising an eyebrow as Tony struggled with the seatbelt. Steve sighed reaching over and tugged on the belt to get free from where it was stuck.

"That's for desert, I want pizza" be said patting the pocket where he had kept the chocolate.

So far, Tony had insisted steve wait while he talks to Bruce about something science related. Then he had suddenly remembered he had forgotten something in his locker and left Steve sitting in his car while Tony ran (jogged slowly) to get his 'thing'.

Steve did take him for his pizza and waited patiently while Tony over chewed every bite. Steve hid a smile as he tried to deflect the conversation every possible way and chuckled when he insisted he needed to stop at a mechanic's to buy some tools.

"We should get ice cream , there is this place near-" steve sighed as he buckled himself inside the car.

"Honey" tony startled shutting up.

"It's not an interrogation, we are only going to talk." Tony looked like he had been caught red handed and he nodded once before turning away from Steve to glance outside the window.

"But you are right, let's get ice cream to go" he said after a few minutes of tense silence from Tony's part. But this time Tony merely shrugged and Steve immediately felt guilty and he didnt even know why.

"That's okay, I don't actually want ice cream" he said after a few seconds

Steve conceded knowing there was a tub of ice cream in his freezer anyway. Clint kept back up ice cream at Steve's place and it came in handy sometimes.

Tony looked surprised when Steve waved a bowl of ice cream in front of his face as they settled down onto the couch, tony immediately pushing himself as far as possible into the couch.

"Uhm thank you" he said politely

"Come here" his head whipped up from the bowl to his face as Steve held out his arm for Tony. "I won't bite , come on" tony gave an unsure smile before forcing himself to move under Steve's arm.

Steve immediately wrapped both his arms around him pulling the rigid teen onto his lap and then picked himself and Tony off the couch. Tony sqwaked, grasping at the ice cream tightly.

"Steve! What are you doing put me-" steve cut him off with a kiss as he walked them to his bedroom while Tony squirmed harder. But he was obviously no match to the super soldier as he was dumped onto Steve's bed, albeit carefully so as to not jostle his injuries.

"What the hell!" He exclaimed, he was panting lightly ,his cheeks had gone a scarlett red that made Steve's heart tingle.

"Language" steve said as he licked his lips tasting the ice cream that Tony had eaten. He knew Tony was nervous and worried, there was also the fact that he absolutely did not want to talk to Steve about what was happening with him for some reason.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as settled down next to the flustered teen who still seemed too rigid as he clutched tightly onto the ice cream bowl.

"Fine." He huffed not looking at him and Steve ran a hand through Tony's hair and gave him another kiss.

"If I make you take off your shirt will I see some new bruises?" Tony winced when Steve ran a hand down his back over the bruise Steve knew was still there from yesterday.

"No" he mumbled and Steve didn't want to doubt him so he pulled the teen into his arms and settled down raking his fingers through his hair. Tony was still exhausted, the fatigue was obvious with his slow reflexes and Steve wondered if it might be better to just let him sleep instead of push his obvious anxiety when it came to discussing stane.

Tony sighed his shoulders relaxing against Steve as he licked the last of the ice cream from the spoon.

"It doesn't happen often" steve froze his fingers momentarily stilling in Tony's hair. He forced himself to resume carding his fingers as Tony put the bowl down next to them and seemed to cower into steve.

"Is there anything that triggers it? Something you did that angers him?" Steve spoke calmly keeping Tony close to him.

"Sometimes it's my fault but sometimes they are just drunk"

"You said they, does that mean both stane and rumlow are always involved?" Tony shuffled a little , rearranging himself so he could press his forehead against Steve's neck. It seemed terribly intimate as Tony took shuddering breaths that fluttered along Steve's neck. But Steve knew that Tony was only trying to hide his face from Steve's worried one.

"Obie is very verbal but he has never actually hurt me" steve took several deep breaths while nosing Tony's hair.

"Were they always drunk , even when it was something you did that made them angry?" Tony nodded against his neck letting Steve thread his fingers through the finger tips that were peeking out of the green bandage around his wrist and palm.

"Has stane ever tried to stop rumlow from hurting you?"

Steve waited for a few seconds and when he didn't get an answer he moved on assuming the answer was a 'no'.

"You are tired huh?" Steve whispered because Tony's breathing was starting to even out. "Do you want stay over tonight? You can tell stane you are sleeping over at a friends? Does he let you do that?" Tony was now mush against him ,pliant and content just laying against Steve's chest. It warmed his heart, as he felt Tony's eyelashes flutter against his skin.

"Tony?"

"Okay. I'll tell him but can we maybe talk about something else now?" He sounded exhausted as if somehow talking about this had released the tension from his body as he lay boneless not moving in the comfort of Steve's arms.

Steve had a few more questions, those regarding Howard's will and ofcourse one that's been plaguing his mind was why Tony hadn't told anyone about the abuse. But he figured this was a good start and didnt want to push his luck.

"Ofcourse sweetheart. What do you want to talk about?" Tony lifted his head from hiding and looked at Steve, timid and shy.

"How many relationships have you been in so far?" Steve chuckled while Tony frowned at him

"Not as many as you would imagine. There was one serious one before the ice. But the rest were more exploratory" Tony's skeptical looks made steve grin

"And how many have you been in?" He asked raising his eyebrows at Tony who only stuck his tongue out at him. He knew this had to be Tony's first considering how their first kiss went.

"But I promise you are the cutest of them all" steve teased. Tony smacked him on his chest and whimpered when he realized he had used his injured hand.

Steve pulled a blanket over the two of them and pushed Tony further into the bed. "I think you need to get some sleep. We will continue this once you stop looking less zombie-esque."

"Steve?" Tony asked quietly after a few seconds of silence.

"Hmm?"

"I want to go back home, don't want to stay here" steve frowned wondering what had changed suddenly. He pulled away to look at the teen , his eyes were closed and he was on the brink of falling asleep, steve could feel the exhaustion radiating from him.

"Get some sleep, I will drop you home after okay?" Tony nodded, eyes still closed and snuggled closer to Steve. It was way too early for either of them to be in bed but if Steve's presence was what he needed to fall asleep then Steve would lay beside him the whole time.

Steve kissed the small frown on Tony's forehead and resumed brushing his fingers through Tony's hair feeling Tony sigh and relax completely.

He wished he had asked tony why he insisted on going back everytime. Now he had wait until Tony was willing to talk about this again.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, curling around the teen pulling him closer. He could be patient, if anything Steve atleast knew Tony trusted him enough to tell him. Maybe not today but soon.


	9. Chapter 9

"I want to see this project done by friday and don't forget this will be counted for your finals" groans went around the room as Steve finished his class. He was actually in a good mood today considering he was up all night looking into a mission Coulson had sent him. He had handed it over to steve personally , requesting that he keep it hushed and when he saw the object of the mission he understood why.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!" Steve jolted at the voice his head snapping up to see the commotion happening in his class. He shouldn't have been surprised that one of the parties involved was Tony and the other was ofcourse the other bratty kid Ty stone. Pepper was trying to pry Tony away from the other kid who only looked smug and Steve wanted to knock him in the head. To be honest steve never liked that kid, he was snobbish and bratty and caused unnecessary trouble.

He took a second to actually take in the scene before interfering. It looked like Tony was going to pounce on Ty and he looked absolutely determined to do so.

"Fucking use your goddamn-" tony was screaming at him not even caring that the teacher was still in the room. Steve walked up quickly shoving an arm between them.

If it was anyone else , steve would have maybe let them take a swing , probably teach Ty a lesson but he knew Tony wouldn't stand a chance, considering the other boy was a foot taller and well muscled, atleast not with his still injured arm and ribs. It's been a few weeks but Steve knows that arm is still bothering him even if he won't admit to it. He hated bullies and had heard enough stories from the other staff. While tony was known to cause a lot of trouble in school , he had realized a while later that Tony never actually bullied anyone and all his classmates seemed to really like him. So he knew instantly that whatever was happening here, it must have been Ty who initiated it. But unfortunately he also knew this called for detention for the both parties involved.

"Hey! What is going on here?" He asked firmly as Tony tried to push Steve's hands away to get to Ty. Steve glared at him until he calmed down but didn't back away. He kept an arm firmly against Tony's chest as he turned to glare at Ty. He looked even more smug if that is even possible making Steve want to roll his eyes at the overly smug teen.

"If I don't hear a proper excuse and apology from the both of you then detention will be the best thing you are facing today" he stated firmly. Steve could be very scary if he intended to and he knew that. It's sort of what kept his students in line and the fact that he hardly behaved strict with them is what made him popular among the students. He would like to keep it that way though, but these kinds of incidents seemed to bring out the worst in him.

Both tony and Ty seemed to shrink back at the threat, it was more the intensity of the tone than the severity of the threat that had them both backing up. It also didnt help that Steve was a towering bulk and looked physically menacing when he got this way.

"I was just trying to talk to pepper , Mr. Roger's, but our boy got jealous and all up in my face"

Teenagers. Steve refused to sigh, as he turned to raise an eyebrow at his still seething boyfriend. He was red in the face and still glaring refusing to back off.

"Mr. Stark, this is where you say something" he said irritably as Tony continued to ignore him.

"Don't you dare fucking speak to her tha-" Ty chuckled shrugging

"She is not your property" now Steve sighed. Whatever was going on, steve didn't like to get involved. Ever. He rarely bothered with such incidents because he believed these kids were mature enough to handle it themselves.

What he didn't care for was the language.

"That's enough, if you cannot talk it out in a civil manner you can both hash it out in detention." He stated walking away to write it up.

Tony didnt say a word as he and pepper walked away snatching the detention slip from Steve's fingers without even looking at him , rhodey apparently staying back to glare daggers at Steve and Ty.

He rolled his eyes at the sudden silence and shock that resonated the room "show's over. Get to your classes" he said and within a few seconds he was left alone staring at the detention slips in his hands.

He knew he was stressed about the upcoming mission and this was not how he should have handled the quarrel but he couldn't seem to make himself care. He remembers how annoyed he used to get when teachers intervened his fights with his fellow classmates, they never actually knew what was happening. So Steve always felt it was wrong to do so unless it was something that really required his attention.

The rest of the day went by fairly monotonous. It was normal enough that Steve forgot about the incident that happened in the morning. He had even squeezed in time to have a coffee break with Bruce. With everything happening with Tony's home life, this new mission and school ,Steve was finding it a little hard to balance. He was stressed about Tony's lack of self preservation especially because everytime Steve brought up the abuse he refused to make a big deal of it.

He had been taking Tony out every few days, keeping an eye out for any signs of abuse and Tony was starting to get more comfortable under Steve's scrutinizing eyes. Now he just rolls his eyes at Steve everytime he not so subtly feels around for any injuries Tony could be hiding from him. He would initially resist and try to slap away Steve's wandering hands but slowly give into the touches and then whine when Steve tried to take his hands away.

It took some time for Steve to confirm why Tony behaved that way. He never seeks any physical attention and neither does he initiate it unless prompted to.

He was touch starved.

So Steve had been sneaking in little shoulder rubs and kisses and hugs whenever possible.

"I thought you were spending time with Tony today" steve almost clocked Clint in the face for startling him.

"He's in detention. What are you doing here?" Since tony was in detention for next hour Steve figured he would get back to read up more on the mission.

"I see you have been eating my ice cream" clint accused eating from the tub directly while Steve wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"That's between you and tony" he dismissed knowing tony has been the one to eat all of the ice cream just to spite clint.

"Speaking of the little devil, he sent me a text saying he is not coming over after detention" steve frowned as he pulled out a water bottle and settled down with a file on the couch.

"Why did he text you?" Clint smirked at him

"Because he's mad you sent him to detention" steve rolled his eyes . If he didn't want to be sent to detention then he should have behaved. "Why would you do that Steve, the poor thing is stuck in detention with his arch nemesis."

"Don't encourage him. Why are you both talking about this anyway. Also why is he texting you during school hours?" Steve asked, he wasn't particularly concerned about Tony being mad at him for this but now he was starting to wonder if maybe he should have tried to talk to Tony before leaving school.

"He's just a kid Steve, he was just standing up for pepper" now steve gave clint his full attention.

"What?" He received the same glare he had from rhodey

"Apparently the Ty kid was giving pepper a hard time so Tony was just standing up for her" oh. But that does not excuse him from using such language at school.

"Fine, since you both are now so close ,has he told you how I can make it up to his highness?" Steve asked picking up the file , frowning at the new pages added to it.

"He didnt say, but in my opinion maybe you should buy him that new video game"

"You just want me to buy it so you can play with it" clint shrugged going back to his ice cream.

He spent the next few hours going through the files that Clint had brought over while discussing it with the spies. Natasha had come over with dinner and they had made good use of their time.

Steve groaned when he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to check in on tony. It was the weekend and Steve knew he was going to be busy with shield. So he probably wouldn't get to see Tony until Monday.

He sighed as he listened to the ringtone as he waited for Tony to pick up his call. But apparently Tony was ignoring him now.

He didn't however have much time to think about it because he had been roped into a meeting the next morning , that was already on it's third hour now.

"This is not going to be possible on this budget, you will have to give us more wiggle room on this one." Steve argued.

"Have you seen his MO?" Steve frowned

"Its not about the budget captain, this guy can sniff you with just paper trails. If we blow the budget on this one he is likely to see it coming" Fury explained but Steve was annoyed, he needed room to work not be constrained by these limits.

The meeting was interrupted when a nervous junior agent knocked on the door. Fury glaring at him because he had no business being here.

"Uhm, excuse me captain, there is a girl named pepper trying to reach you on your phone" Fury gave him a dirty look but Steve ignored him as he got up and walked out of the room suddenly concerned and confused how she got his number and why she was calling.

"Are you sure it's a girl?" He asked wondering if maybe it was Tony trying to reach him through pepper's phone.

"Yes sir, she is insisting that she speak with you immediately." The agent said handing Steve his phone and sure as hell there were seven missed calls but they were all from Tony.

Just as he was about to hit the redial button, the screen lit up again with Tony's incoming call.

"Hey hon-"

"Mr.Rogers? Oh thank god! Rhodey I got him!" Steve had to pull the phone away from his ear when pepper shouted through it.

"Pepper? What's going on? Are you alright?" He asked

"Yes we are fine. I mean not exactly" Steve's pulse picked up

"What's wrong?"

"Tony , he said we should meet him at this bar. He sounded upset so we came and he's a little drunk and we didn't want to take him home like this." He took in a sharp breath, he had definitely not expected this. Especially not in the middle of a very important meeting he was having.

His concern was suddenly replaced by annoyance as he turned and motioned for the agent who gave him the phone to hand him some car keys.

"Where are you?"

"Uhm the bar on 99th" he sighed, that was not too far from here.

"Okay listen to me Ms.Potts, I want all three of you there waiting for me when I get there. I don't want any of you drinking anymore and eat something if possible. I will be there in twenty. Understand?" He barked out allowing the anger the show through.

"I.. yes. We are sorry" she said and Steve cut the call annoyed even more because saying sorry was not going to excuse their behaviour.

Even if steve did know what it was like to be that age he was still disappointed with Tony for having roped in his friends.

"Can you let Fury know I will be back in thirty minutes?" The agent nodded uncomfortable at the prospect having to inform Fury.

He entered the bar, eyes immediately zeroing in on two people looking distinctly out of place. They were sitting at a booth at the far end looking uncomfortable and anxious. Good , steve thought to himself as he made his way over .

"Where is he?" The two heads snapped up looking at Steve

"In the restroom" steve sighed ,taking in the two teenagers looking at him with wide eyes.

"Are you both alright?" He asked feeling calmer now that he had eyes on them.

"Yeah we only had one beer each, I swear" pepper said immediately and Steve nodded

"How did they even let you in? Did they not ask for an ID?" He found it hard to believe they let Tony in, what with his doe eyes. The same eyes Steve fell for, he had to remind himself.

"Uhm, tony flashed around some money" ofcourse, billionaire's kid.

"I told you not to call him!" He heard the distinct whine from his younger lover and his face snapped towards it , glaring at him.

"Come here" he said and Tony shook his head staying rooted in place . He was flushed, his cheeks redder than he had ever seen. Eyes glazed over and was sweating ever so lightly. He looked completely inebriated.

"You are mad" Steve barked a laugh at him

"Yeah I think you got that right. Come here, tony" he said more firmly and Tony adjusted the sweatshirt around his hips and shuffled over reluctantly. He stayed a few feet away from Steve's reach and steve rolled his eyes at him turning back to the other two.

"How did you both get here, should I have someone drop you?" He asked and they both shook their heads resolutely lips pursed.

"We took my car, sir. We will be okay driving home" Steve's glare softened at that, he didn't want to be this kind of teacher who the kids were afraid of, he wanted them to be able to come to him if at all they needed the help.

He sighed, sitting down across from the two teens with tony still fidgeting and glaring at his friends from a few feet away.

"Is everything alright with Ty ?" He asked pepper and she finally cracked a small smile at him nodding

"Yeah, my boys took care of it" she said softly and Steve nodded returning the smile.

"Okay, I am glad to hear that. I want to see you both ten minutes early tomorrow before class." He said getting up , motioning for Tony to come to him. "I also need for you both to drop a message to Tony's phone once you are home. If I am not wrong you have a test in physics tomorrow right?" They nodded fast and scrambled to get up after him following him out.

Tony on the other hand was resisting every step of the way as Steve pulled him along with his fingers wrapped around his wrist.

He didnt speak a word ,nor look at Steve the entire ride back to shield. Not that steve was looking either. He didn't know why Tony had gone and gotten drunk or how often he does this. He had been doing well the past month in school, less detention and more focused on his science experiments with Bruce. The two were becoming close fast and Steve was just glad that he seemed to be staying out of trouble.

"Sit here, don't move. I have a meeting in the room next door. We are going to talk once I am back. Do you understand me?" Tony didnt look up at him as he was pushed into a chair in a small conference room opposite to where Steve's meeting was happening. He didn't answer Steve. He stared resolutely at his feet.

He motioned for one of the junior agents passing by, "can you get him something to eat? And watch him. I will be back soon" the agent nodded suddenly tense, reading the room.

It took almost another hour for Steve to round up the meeting. Fury was annoyed for most of it, thanks to Steve's sudden disappearance. It had extended and wasted everybody's time.

"I will see you at three tomorrow." Fury said dismissing them all. Just as he left the room, his eyes immediately fell on the commotion happening in the room opposite to theirs. The one where he left Tony.

There were a couple of agents talking nervously at the door and Steve immediately recognized the one man crouched beside Tony talking to him. Steve made his way over quickly , taking in the scene.

Tony was shaking his head to something Clint was saying and the carton of food beside him on the table stayed untouched and cold.

"What's going on?" He asked while tony seemed to only get more nervous now that Steve was here. Clint looked up at Steve and the tension in his eyes alerted steve to pay more attention.

"I was just passing by and saw him sitting here. Came over to say hi, and then noticed his eyes" steve immediately crouched down beside Clint hand going to Tony's chin tipping it up.

He was right, Tony's pupils were blown.

Guilt and fear suddenly gripped him as he reached out a hand to grasp Tony's, but Tony pulled it away from him. Steve pretended that didnt affect him.

"What happened Tony?" He asked instead

"Nothing , I drank a little" he mumbled still trying to avoid his eyes.

"Did you take something?" He asked trying to stay calm as Clint turned back to ask the agents to give them some space, leave the room to them.

"What?" He asked in a small voice

"Drugs tony, what did you take? I am not mad, I promise. Just tell me what you took honey" he was not angry, he was scared. Scared that he hadn't even realized in his irritation when he had picked him up and now that he was seeing it, it was so obvious.

"Nothing"

"Tony, hey you have to tell us what you took buddy. Come on, we just want to help" clint said and Tony looked up at Steve and then Clint, quickly looking away again. He was clearly contemplating something

He mumbled something that resembled "rumlow" and Steve saw red. The wood under his palm cracked and clint patted him on the back to calm him down.

"When tony? Tell us what happened?"

"There was an SI launch part at home and obie occasionally let's me drink" he said

"Okay, can you tell me what you are feeling right now?" Clint took over as Steve stared helplessly, worry getting the best of him.

"Is'hot" he mumbled and Steve only then notice the slight tremble to his fingers.

"I can send someone to draw some blood" all three of them jumped at the new voice , tony more so than the others.

"No! I wanna go home" he said trying to get up and away from them

"No hey, phil no blood tests" steve took over and Tony calmed down . Clint leaned over and pulled the sweatshirt Tony still had wrapped around his waist. It came off easily but Tony gasped , a look of shame covering his face.

The three of them realized the problem immediately, all three sets of eyes zeroing in on the tent of Tony's pants.

"Oh sweetheart" Steve was aghast. Tony had been wearing the sweatshirt since Steve saw him first in the bar. That was more than an hour ago.

"How long have you been like this?" He asked softly all traces of irritation anger drained from his voice, now only left with worry and concern.

When tony refused to answer, both clint and Phil silently left the room pulling the door closed behind them , giving the two some privacy.

"How long?" He asked once they were alone and Tony finally looked up at him with pleading eyes. What he was pleading for, steve didnt know.

"Maybe three hours" steve sucked in a sharp breath and Tony pulled away from him again wrapping his trembling fingers tightly below the chair.

"Why didn't you tell me Tony?"

"I didn't want you to see me like this" his voice hitched at the end of the sentence and Steve really wanted to wrap the teen with his arms.

"Look at me" Tony looked up hesitantly "I don't want you to ever feel like you cannot tell me something okay? Especially something like this Tony, this is what we are trying to fix and if you don't tell me then I can't help you sweetheart" tony nodded and Steve figured now may not be the best time for this lecture.

"Are you hurt anywhere? H-" there was knock on the door amd Tony jumped in his chair while Steve went to open it

"Phil spoke to medical. We should do a blood test, but they don't think it's anything bad since he doesn't have any other symptoms. He just needs a little attention if you know what I mean" for clint of all people to be saying that with a straight face, steve knew how pissed the archer was.

He thanked him , quietly closing the door behind him as he made his way over to Tony again.

"How much have you had to drink?" Tony was looking more and more uneasy by the second

"Maybe three glasses of beer, nothing else. I swear" steve heart broke for him as tony tried to justify his drinking

"It's okay , I am not mad" he said again and would say over an over until Tony needed him to. It dawned on him that it didnt help that Steve's initial reaction to finding Tony in a bar early afternoon may be why Tony was trying to justify it.

"Did he hurt you? Can I touch you sweetheart?" Tony shook his head, he did so nervously and Steve bit his lip to keep from cursing.

"He didn't hurt me, he was getting handy so I just left and then called pepper and rhodey. It's not their fault -I ..I made them come-"

"It's okay honey, I understand." Tony nodded

"Can you look at me? Please" tony looked up , steve could see the tremble now taking over his shoulders.

"I can help you with this sweetheart, will you let me?" It took tony a second to understand what steve was implying and the moment he did he shook his head violently and Steve backed away a step.

"You can do it yourself , think you can do that? I'll take you back to my place and we can work it out"

"No! Please ,no" he said still shaking his head

"What are you afraid of honey? I promise you are safe with me"

"Can't" he said clamping his jaw tightly , Steve slowly reached a hand out to trace it, tony struggling to let Steve comfort him.

"Can't what?" Steve tipped his chin up so Tony would meet his eyes , his pupils were pitch black.

"Can't let my first time be like this" he said softly, vulnerable. Steve felt his heart tugging as he lowered his hand ,allowing tony to look away again.

"You are right. Let's try something else okay? Come on" steve said after taking a deep breath, extending a hand out for Tony to grasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I am not being consistent in updating!! 
> 
> This is getting harder to write honestly! 
> 
> But I am not giving up!


	10. Chapter 10

“It’s too cold!”

  
Steve stood , a hand on Tony’s back while the teen tested the temperature of the water falling from the shower. Steve had brought him to the showers, turned the water on cold and asked Tony to get under it hoping that would make his problem go away. 

  
“That’s the point. There are towels in the cabinet and I will be right outside if you need me" steve said trying very hard to control his face from showing the worry.

The moment steve turned to leave, a hand fisted in his shirt keeping Steve from walking away. 

  
“Don’t go" steve carefully schooled his surprise and turned around looking at the teen 

  
“Are you sure?” because tony had been so reluctant to even let Steve near him all this while. 

  
He seemed to really consider the question while he bit his lip and then suddenly before Steve could comprehend, tony threw his arms around steve and buried his face into his chest. 

  
Steve was reluctant to wrap his arms around tony, keeping his body oddly angled so he wouldn’t brush against Tony’s waist. 

  
“Am sorry" he mumbled and Steve almost reeled back at the apology not knowing what it was for. He wrapped his arms around the teen, one arm going to the nape of his neck and curling there. 

  
“I should be the one who is sorry, I am really sorry that I didn’t realize what was going on sooner" tony didn’t say anything after that , he sniffled a little but otherwise kept quiet.

Steve rubbed his back gently for a few seconds and pulled away “come on ,let’s get this over with yeah?” he said tugging gently at the hem of Tony’s shirt to get it over his head. 

But Tony balked , pushing at his arms “you want to keep your clothes on?” Tony nodded avoiding his eyes again “that’s fine, come here" steve didn’t give tony any warning before pushing him under the jet of cold water before following him .

Tony yelped, clinging to him as Steve let the shock of the ccold water hit them both before pulling Tony onto his lap as he settled down on the floor allowing most of the water to fall directly on tony. 

  
After a few moments of shifting around Tony finally sighed settling his back against Steve “good?” steve asked brushing Tony’s hair off his face. He couldn’t see the teens face but the way he relaxed spoke volumes .

  
“Yeah” he sighed “feels good" 

  
“Mm. I am glad you are okay" steve said softly 

  
“I am sorry for drinking”

steve resisted the urge to kiss him. It was the last thing Tony needed ,besides having Tony sitting on his lap was not particularly helping either, but at the moment all Steve wanted was to make Tony feel safe. Safe enough that Tony would never hesitate to come to him for help again.

  
“let’s not worry about that now okay?” Steve was really regretting the anger he had shown towards Tony for drinking . 

  
“Kay" he mumbled and Steve knew he was falling asleep . Whatever the drug was , was making Tony drowsy and he was honestly thankful for it at the moment. He spoke quietly to him telling him some nonsensical story about his days as a teen. 

Making sure Tony was really asleep, he ran the heel of his palm along the front of his now soaked pants and sighed when he still felt the hardness under his hand and quietly settled in pulling Tony closer to him. 

He hated himself for not realizing sooner, Tony’s pupils were blown and if only Steve had been more patient with Tony he would have realized sooner. He wouldn’t have subjected tony to have to wait for so long with an uncomfortable erection. He was also worried about what Tony meant by rumlow getting handsy. How far had it gone? Was tony hurt? He had refused to take his clothes off and now Steve was worried. 

He knew that this relationship was going to be different from his other ones. Tony was a lot younger than him, he had to be patient with him. Especially with the abuse and such, steve knows and yet he had failed him. 

He was aware how much the guilt was wearing him down at the moment, a weight on his chest refusing to let him take a complete breath. Especially because Tony didn’t feel safe enough to trust him to come to him in the first place. He took in a breath, aware of the fragile human in his arms that was meant to be his to protect, but it only came as a gasp jarring him into sudden darkness as his eyes closed against volition. 

It was dark, and cold and Steve couldn’t keep himself from shivering. He tightened his told on tony, as he tried desperately to breath and push against the massive pressure of the water . The water was swallowing him whole and he panicked unable to surface ,no amount of trashing was enough to get in even a minuscule amount of air he so desperately needed –

“-teve!” 

  
He felt his eyes snap open, lights blinding him as he tried to desperately cling to the voice calling his name

“that’s it, come on Steve. Look at me" the voice coaxed and a new warmth joined his shoulder. 

  
“you are okay, take some deep breaths. Come on" he shuddered as he sucked in the abundant air like someone would take it away from him if he didn’t use it. 

  
“you with me?”

his mind was reeling , there was still some pressure on his chest and it took him a few moments to realize that someone was laying against his chest. He moved a shaky hand to wipe his face off the water and then finally turned to the voice that pulled him out of the nightmare. 

  
His eyes landed on a cautious smile , “nat" he cringed at how raspy his voice sounded suddenly remembering what or why he was here , sitting in the cold. He looked down, to find tony asleep, head on Steve’s chest. Fingers grasping tightly at his shirt ,lips parted lightly . 

  
“Steve" he turned , still feeling sluggish, to look at the redhead ,as if the world was turning in slow motion “phil has a room set up for you with some warm blankets by the medical bay.”

He frowned , not entirely comprehending “give tony to me" he felt his arms unconsciously tightening around the teen as he watched natasha take a measured step into the shower in front of them and reach for Tony but Steve wasn’t going to let go. 

“Steve give him to me, come on. You need to take care of yourself before you can help him" he didn’t want to let go, what if Tony fell into the water again. “steve , hey! Snap out of it" 

There was a light sting to his cheek , his ears ringing as he suddenly opened his eyes again ,when had they closed? To look at natasha who was now now trying to pry his hands off the sleeping teen. 

  
“Good, come on, give him to me" steve let go and watched as she pulled Tony effortlessly towards her , his head lolling forward oblivious to the exchange around him. 

  
“is he okay?” he asked with a shaky breath as he stood up on trembling limbs holding onto the glass for support. 

  
Natasha ran her hand on the front of Tony’s pants the same way he had and smiled looking up “he is fine" 

  
Steve could only give an uncertain nod and made his way to the room with the promised blankets.

Heat , he needed heat. 

He wasn’t sure how long he had sat there , wrapped in blankets with the heater turned on until a knock on the door startled him. He had been so focused on thinking about the present that he hadn’t even realized what time it was. The dim light outside the window told him it was late afternoon. He wasn’t sure how long he had sat with Tony under the water or how long he had been sitting here. 

He smiled when a mop of curly wet brown hair peeked through the door. He knew exactly whom that head of hair belonged to and he wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through them. 

  
“hey" he called out softly and Tony finally pushed his way in shuffling to the foot of Steve’s bed. Steve would have laughed, if his mind was not still feeling fuzzy and shadowed.

Tony was dressed in one of Steve’s shirt he knew came from his locker at the gym and a pair of shields standard issue pants that were bunched up at his ankles sweeping the floor. 

“uhm hi" tony said his fingers drumming on the edge of the bed frame.

He was flushed , his face pale and wet hair falling on his forehead.

“tasha told me to get you some hot food but I didn’t know where anything was" he said biting his lip “and I also kinda wanted to see you first" he mumbled 

“Tasha huh? Since when are you both on a nickname basis?” he said tilting his head at the nervous teen. 

“Since I cuddled with her with a hard on" he muttered , his cheeks going a scarlet red 

“Should I be jealous?” tony pouted at him knowing that Steve was teasing him. He was already feeling better, the shadow from the back of his head was clearing away the more he spoke to Tony.

“Uhm she also mentioned that my fever ridden body might be the best thing for you right now" steve grinned, motioning for Tony to come to him. 

“Did she now?” tony nodded , as he snuck his way under the blankets and Steve wrapped an arm around his waist hiking him up just a little bit. He Sighed contentedly when the teens warm forehead tucked itself against his neck. 

They sat in silence , steve relishing the heat emanating from the body next to him. He kept a firm grip on the teen, tony returning the child with a tight grip on his shirt. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about the cold water?” steve would be lying if the voice didn’t startle him just a little bit. 

“It’s nothing for you to worry about” tony pushed away from him with a hand on his chest, scowling at Steve. 

“How can you say that? Of course I worry" Tony’s eyes were imploring and Steve sighed and pulled Tony back to him while Tony tucked his hands between their bodies. 

  
“I know sweetheart” tony shook his head before Steve could continue 

  
“No you don’t!” He argued and Steve was surprised at the tenacity in his voice “I don’t want to be treated like a child in this relationship. I am not stupid and I don’t need you to coddle me and protect me.”

He was clearly agitated and Steve let him continue , pursing his lips “I know I am younger okay? And I know I won’t understand everything but I am not stupid and I am allowed to worry about you too. It’s not a one way thing" his breaths were becoming panicky and Steve smiled at him pulling him closer 

  
“Tony , sweetheart I didn’t mean it like that. You were going through something so I just thought my problems can wait until we have sorted yours out okay?” tony sniffled against him and Steve was not sure if it was from a cold he was catching or from something else but Steve rubbed his palm against his back anyway in a gentle motion. “in fact , I am feeling so much better now that you are here with me.” He finally dropped a kiss to the brunette hair and Tony hummed against him but Steve knew there was something that Tony had wanted to say but didn’t. 

“How are you feeling now?” he asked instead

“Cold, but I will be okay” he said honestly and Tony looked up at him smirking 

“Because I am here now?” cheeky tony was Steve’s favorite. 

“I will feel even better if I get a few kisses" tony didn’t even hesitate, he pushed his bony elbows against Steve’s solid chest and planted his lips against his for good measure. The warmth soaking straight through Steve’s brain. 

“How about you, everything okay down there?” the teen blushed profusely and nodded looking away .

It baffled steve how shy Tony was. At school tony was loud and loved the attention. He was crass with his words, an air of pompous attitude always surrounding him. But with steve ,when they were talking about intimate things he was especially shy. 

“did he hurt you Tony?” He had to know, he wanted to see for himself actually but he didn’t think Tony would appreciate that today. 

“No" he mumbled and Steve lifted his chin forcing Tony to look at him “I swear nothing happened, I left before anything could" he said when he realized steve was not particularly believing him. 

  
“Okay. You are okay" he sighed speaking mostly to himself. He looked okay, other than being a little pale so Steve forced himself to focus on other things. Like how Tony’s lips, soft and warm was making it’s way up his neck. 

“Can I skip school tomorrow because ,you know” steve raised his eyebrows “I underwent trauma" he said. 

“Or do you want to skip it because you have a test in physics?” Tony grumbled while Steve chuckled at him and they both startled when the door pushed open. 

“you guys look cozy" nat commented , clint fake gagged as he placed cartons of food on the table beside them. 

“Here" nat handed them both Styrofoam cups and Tony pouted when he saw his didn’t contain coffee like Steve’s did. 

“No coffee until the drugs are out of your system" tony blushed , embarrassment clouding his face. Steve hated that Tony was embarrassed about it. It didn’t sit well with him that Tony was not the least bit angry with what happened and was only embarrassed to tell Steve.

Steve understood some parts of it, like he didn’t want to appear weak in front of others. Steve was the same way, especially when he had come out of the ice he had refused to talk to anyone about how the future had scared him, how everything seemed so different and new . He had realized later that it was hard for him to speak to anyone about it because he didn’t trust anyone. That was until he met the spies and even that took a while. 

“How are you feeling Steve?” he was snapped out of his thoughts when natasha laid a hand on his shoulder. Apparently she had been trying to get his attention for a while now . 

  
Tony was also looking at him, eyes concerned and wide and Steve smiled down at him trying to hide the tremble in his voice

“I am okay, will be okay" he corrected when he recited three sets of glares. 

  
Tony continued to frown at him “what’s happening to him?” the question was directed to the spies but he was still looking at Steve with concern. He only realized why, when tony put his hot chocolate down and threaded his fingers through Steve’s own that he was shaking. 

He sighed ignoring the looks and tilted his head back concentrating on calming his breaths and the shakes. He didn’t want Tony to see him like this, not when he should be the one comforting Tony not the other way around. 

“he is having a flashback, it happens sometimes when you undergo some form of trauma. For him it’s the cold from the ice.” He heard Clint explain quietly 

  
“is he going to be okay? Maybe we should get a doctor to see him” steve smiled knowing Tony wouldn’t be able to see it with his head up. 

  
“He will be just fine buddy , keep him warm yeah?” his smile turned bigger when he felt Tony wrap himself around Steve and plant a kiss along the underside of his jaw. Steve reciprocated by wrapping arms around Tony and holding him close. 

  
“I am okay sweetheart” he said after a few moments of silence during which he knew Tony was fretting over Steve’s well being. Tony looked skeptical but nodded anyway. 

“Tony, I am not pointing fingers here and if it were anybody’s fault that Steve is currently facing this ,its his own. But -" 

“don’t” steve cut natasha off knowing exactly where this was going and the last he wanted was to guilt tony into confiding in Steve or the team. Tony was reluctant as it was and pushing was going to only make it worse. 

But the damage had already been done. Tony pulled away, Natasha’s words clearly already ser deep in him mind.

When steve tried to tightened his hold on the teen, Tony refused to let him instead he turned his gaze down to his now free hands that were dancing around nervously around each other. 

  
“Steve, he has to understand that we cannot help him if he doesn’t come to us. We cannot keep cajoling him into telling us every time something happens.” Tony flinched ever so slightly and Steve glared at natasha for bringing this up again. 

  
And when Steve reached out to takes Tony’s hand, he shrugged them off “I am sorry okay? And I didn’t ask Steve to get in the water with me. He doesn’t tell me things either, if he had told me then I wouldn’t have let him do it.” He forced out angrily still unable to look at any of them. 

  
“Give us a minute" steve requested to the spies and nat rolled his eyes at him before muttering about getting them food before they both left, clint keeping silent throughout the whole exchange. 

“tony, look at me" 

  
“What?” he asked still obviously angry now glaring at Steve. He took Tony’s hand squeezing gently. 

  
“Natasha is just worried, nobody likes seeing you hurt by stane or rumlow.” Tony’s frown shifted into a pout and it completely took Steve by surprise.

He had expected him to keep arguing but something shifted in his emotions suddenly and Tony leaned closer to Steve seeking comfort from him for the first time as he only just realized the full extent of what had happened with him. 

  
“nothing happened though, I didn’t let anything happen. I left before anything could" steve sighed ,the chill forgotten he threw the blankets aside and pulled Tony to him who came with no resistance .

  
“You did, I am so glad you are okay sweetheart” Steve didn’t want to think what would have happened if he hadn’t. Tony didn’t say anything after that only snuggling closer to Steve. 

  
Tony didn’t seem to be too disturbed by the accusation from natasha but Steve on the other hand was and had been planning to give her a piece of his mind when she came back. 

  
But what he really did not see coming was as Clint and natasha came back carrying hands full of food ,fresh and hot , for her to lean down and drop a kiss to Tony’s forehead.

Tony didn’t seem perturbed by it but both clint and Steve froze at the little exchange.   
Natasha never showed open affection, and this instance was a real opener to him. She was definitely rattled with what happened today and Steve as a good team leader had to pry into it sometime soon. 

  
And truth be told, it was not just her who was rattled by it, steve was now terrified of what might happen next time if he didn’t do something about it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update!! 
> 
> Hoping to put out the next few chapters on a weekly basis. 
> 
> Let me know if there is some situation you guys would like to see Tony and Steve in ,I will try and add it in 😊 
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Stay safe :)


End file.
